Dreams
by BronzeParadox
Summary: Whoever wantted to be just normal? Me, that's who. Now I think I'm losing my mind just as things are looking up for me... finally (one shot, human au... or is it? remember nothing is as it seems )
1. Chapter 1

**Possibly trigger warning**

Contains scenes of bullying, verbal assault/harassment, adult content/ language/ swear words and physical violence against women.

Remember, nothing is as it seems

 _There was no thought_

 _No moment of doubt_

 _Just, a reaction_

 _A blade descended a pone it's exposed and vulnerable target. Unseen by the rest. Should it hit, that would be it. A killing blow that would do more damage to the rest of them then it's intended mark._

 _It would be an unexceptional loss_

 _So she dashed forward, sliding between the blade and it's target._

 _There was no time to bring her own sword up, to defend herself with. So she took the full hit and felt pain explode across her chest. Saw the blood begin to flow. Watched the terror fill their eyes and wordless screams echo around her as everything went black_

 _She had faith in Donny to fix her up if he could._

 _There was no thought, no moment of doubt. Just a reaction as she slipped between the blade and Leo's exposed neck._

 _(Sunday)_

I can't remember how this obsession came to be. What changed or even when it started. All I know is I love this show, love it more than I need to breath. It's crazy, it's kinda meant for younger kids but I can't take my eyes off it, I stop whatever I am doing to watch. I hang up the phone, put down my fork and push my homework away until the episode is done. It's a short 20-ish minute escape from my pathetic existence. But I crave it, every Sunday at 9 am like clock work.

I hit the save changes button on my computer screen as my phone buzzes beside me, it's my five minutes warning to push pause on everything and to curl up in front of my tv screen. Hot chocolate? Check. Over sized pjs to lazy around in? Check. Big fluff blanket to curl up into? Check. Eyes opened wide to take in every possible detail? Double check. Pen and paper to write every tiny thing I see so I can discuss it in detail on the forums tonight? Check and check! I snuggle up, lean back and turn the tv on, it's an all new episode today, the guys will be going up against their arch nemesis that somehow survived an explosion!

I get the oddest sensation of des a vue just as the opening credits flash across the screen. For the next 22 minutes my eyes feel glued to the screen. As much as I love this show I really think they should just do away with that one bad guy already. No really how many times can someone almost magical survivor death and narrowly escape their fate? I remind myself that this show is marketed to young kids half my age. Still…. This guy has been dropped hundreds of feet off a building, down into a pit, was almost burned alive like 3 times now, had an mini bomb go off mere inches from the back of his head and now he's a massive mutant that needs to eat mutagen to keep going. No ones hate can be that strong that they would go to such extreme measures just to hurt one person they thought to be dead… could it?

Anyway. Its weird because even though I haven't seen all of the episodes I still seem to know what's going to happen before everyone else most of the time. I signed up to this fan webpage that's dedicated to them so I know I'm not the only young adult that likes it. There's some older adults too, they post about the older version of the show every now and then. Some are really crazy and out there stories about them that I know would never happen, but people love to live vicariously thou others. I know some people are trying to draw inspiration to keep fighting, or their working through their problems and trying to be more like them. That's ok, I understand this because I'm doing it too. I get caught up in their adventures, the crazy antics and amazing characters, even though their all slightly one dimensional with overly simplified life goals…. Again this show is marketed to pre teens and under so I should just enjoy it as is without trying to complicate it like the almost adult that I am.

My average every day life is tragically boring in comparison, even comes complete with your standard teenager issues too. No I am not rebelling in a standard way, just trying to survive high school mostly intact.

1\. The unattainable love interest: I am totally crushing hard on the captain of the basketball team Lenny (heeell-o! Those arm muscles should be illegal, simply too good to be true), it's a Romeo and Juliet star crossed lovers kinda love… if he knew I was alive anyway

2\. The pain in my kesster: I got a pair of bullies that always bug me at lunch time, sometimes after school too. I have no idea what I did to them, but they make it a daily mission to mess me with.

3\. The a-hole holding me back: My home room teach seems to have it out for me, along with my principal, their total jerks and take far too much pleasure in punishing me, sometimes for no reason at all!

4\. Good guy: A bonus is that my gym teacher is supper nice and helps me out all the time. He's really wise and a gentle soul.

5\. Great friends: Thou I only have a few friends and we don't hang out very often I still wouldn't trade them in for anything.

But I'll worry about all that tomorrow, right now I need to finish this new chapter so I can post it before bed time in another 14 hours

(Monday)

"Vivian! Your going to be late for school again!" My foster mom Amanda haulers up at me. I can almost see my foster dad Curt standing behind her tapping his toe. They will drive me to school before hitting up the gym, after he'll go to work at the auto shop and she'll head down to the lab for a few hours. We will all meet up for supper, but between 3:30 and 7 I'm basically free to do as I please… so long as I stay out of trouble.

"I'll be right down" I yell back at them slipping on my socks. I bounce down the stairs and grab my slice of toast cramming my feet into my ankle boots.

"Is that even allowed at school?" Curt picks at my blue shirt edge. "It's practically see threw your gonna give the boys the wrong impression wearing somethin' like that"

My shoulders drop as one hip sways out to the side. "Its fine, I've warn this shirt before"

"That's a shirt?" he doesn't look like he believes me.

"It's an A-symmetrical tunic top" He's lost at my explanation, 2 minutes tops he's forgotten about his original argument and were driving to school "It covers my lady bits" Now he's not even looking at me, his face a slight shade of red, he's so easily embarrassed talking about female body parts next I go technical and new age slang on him, he hates thinking he's getting old "Tunic tops go great with these black leggings and looks fab with the new kicks you got me" If all else fails I can get him in motion with flattery "Which was an awesome find on your part and at a great price like that!" His head is spinning I can tell, I grab my black leather blazer on my way out with Amanda almost dying of laughter. She knows what I'm doing, she showed me how to get what I want. "Come on I shouldn't be late again!" Curt is back in motion and heading towards the van.

Getting out of the house is the easy part of my day. Getting back to the house is the second easy part of my day. It tends to go down hill from there. Seeing Ricky and Bryon waiting for me at my locker sets the bar realllllll low for todays events.

"What's up dork?" Ricky is not the sharpest tool in the shed, big burly and slightly intimidating from sheer size alone. He's mostly harmless with his name calling, unless you get him really mad then it's best to go hide somewhere up high so he can't get you.

"Seen any good T.V shows lately?" now Bryon is supposed to be the brains of the pair but he's not much smarter then Ricky. He's a little faster on his feet but can't put any muscle mass on his body to save him. I think that's why he picked Ricky to be his buddy. What Bryon lacked in size Ricky made up for. And what Ricky couldn't figure out Bryon helped out.

"No I generally don't watch TV, why?" I slip my hand past them, thumbing the lock in circles until they move out of my way.

"You sure about that?" Bryon leans agents the locker looking down on me.

I pause for a moment, it's Monday and I was up late last night posting a new chapter on that fan page after thoroughly putting a troll in his place on the forum for picking on this kid. The forum's we're busy after the new episode had aired. The boys were at it again, taking on the bad guys running to the rescue, kicking butt and taking names. "Yaa, I'd rather watch a movie" where's he going with this?

"Oh cool, so what was the last movie you watched, was it supper amazing? How about all that and a bag of chips?" Bryon's digging for something and all the red flags go flying in my head. He knows something and is trying to get me to admit to being up on that forum, those are the same lines I was using last night.

"I don't remember, some action movie, it was a while ago. Can you please move out of the way now, we're going to be late for class" On cue the bell goes off and the door down the hallway into my home room slams shut with Mr. Sheppard glaring daggers into me. Great, now I'm stuck outside that door until after announcements are done and gotta do a walk of shame up to my desk in front. I'm like 10 steps tops away from that door ass. You could have waited for me, because I know you saw me! I grumble at the two jerks still talking to me. I choose to ignore them and processed to grab my morning books from my locker. I keep ignoring them as I shut my locker, spin the combo lock a few times and take my post up beside the door.

It's the normal chatter but today the schools pride and Joy of the wrestling team Roland is in charge of telling us what's going on. For a kid not much older then me he packs a punch, I swear he's taking steroids.

"Shout out to Myles, celebrating his birthday (beware his pranks today) Deacon won another science award and is going to be featured in the local papers. The wrestling, football, basketball teams and cheerleading squad will be holding try-outs after school to replace a few students that transferred. To the kids spray painting the boys locker rooms, they know who you are so please stop. There will be a rally today just after lunch in the gym. School day 5, early dismissal today (2:15), please stand for the national anthem."

Mr. Sheppard is addressing the class before letting me in but that's ok, I play yesterday new episode out in my head again. Our brave hero's were at it again. Rushing into danger weapons drawn, wits about them and a haphazard plan somehow working out in the end. They stop the bad guys, save the day and kicked some serious butt in the process.

"Vivian, would you care to join us or do you plan on learning out there today?" Mr. Sheppard looks down his nose at me with a sneer in place. The door is wide open in front of me, a few of the popular girls are giggling at me not so discreetly as Roland comes cantering around the corner towards us. He puts the breaks on and slips into class just skimming past me. His standard red muscle tank is tucked into ripped at the knees blue jeans and of course his sneakers are haphazardly tied. The rebel, over all bad boy charm is on full display as he swaggers by a few girls winking at them. I have no idea how he has a girlfriend or why she puts up with that but to each their own. I finally make my way to the front only to have Roland snag a seat beside me, far from his usual spot in the far back corner.

"Yo Viv" He has a deep tone, I'm sure many call it sexy and masculine. "I got a favor to ask of you"

"I'm not doing your homework for you again Roland, you didn't even try to change any of it and I was almost busted for writing your paper for you… again" I glare at him.

"oh, yaa sorry about that, I had extra practice" he rubs the back of his neck trying to and mostly succeeding in looking sorry. "But that's not what I was talkin' about. Your old man…" I cut him off with a glare.

"Is dead, what about him?"

"What? Curt Jobias died, when?" he looks shocked.

"No Curt isn't dead, My old man died four years ago in a car accident, he was friends with Curt who took me in" I explain.

"Oh good. I mean that sucks about your parents and I'm sorry for your loss, is that why you missed that first month of school?" I nod confirming this for him. It happened at the end of summer and I went to live with Curt and Amanda while they applied for guardianship over me, since they lived in a different part of town I had to transfer schools too "Oh that shitty, I lost my mom when I was really little, barley remember her" he's none plus about it but his tone went soft, so he does have a heart hidden behind all that macho B.S "Anyway, about that favor I was hoping you could put in a good word for me to Curt? I applied as an apprentice to his shop and really want the job, I love working on cars and stuff"

My eyes reach for the sky "And stuff? I hope you don't plan on saying something like that during the interview. And you still owe me from the last favor, how you gonna repay me for that mishap?" I throw a mean curve ball, metaphorically speaking.

"Aaaa… I can buy you lunch?" he points to my desk, sans Lunch container.

"Crap" I do a mental check list of the contents of my school bag. I didn't bring any money with me either. "Fine buy me lunch to pay back the first one, what about this one?" I'll forgive his other owing favor if he makes it worth it.

"Like the other one about the reading assignment from last year or talking to Curt for me other one?" He scratches at his head, I didn't think there was enough brain cells in his head to remember that far back, or he's on the verge of busting one of his remaining ones.

"You two done?" Mr. Sheppard taps my desk bringing both our attentions back to the fact that we're in school.

"Yes sir" I lower my head embarrassed again.

"Good, turn to page 184" He turns back to the blackboard and starts handing out assignments for the week as Roland pretends to stab him in the back when he isn't looking.

"I hate that guy" he grumbles out.

"Me too" I whispers back at him earnings me a small half smirk.

After a grueling first period I make my way through second and third without incident. I am also not surprised to not see Roland in the cafeteria. I guess I don't get lunch today after all. About 15 minutes through the one hour break I sit down at my usual watering hole awaiting my friends to show up, maybe they will have something to spare. My phone buzzes and it's the fan page telling me that a new chapter has been posted by my favorite author. Oh he writes really long chapter's but there so good. I double check that no one is around me before clicking on the link.

Oh he tells the best stories. I get absorbed into this tale just as quickly as I always do. At the 30 minute marker I realize that my friends won't be saving me today either, I also remember that they are all at cheerleading practice today, since it's Monday and all. My stomach goes off just as a fat little finger wraps around my phone and takes it away from me. I shriek at this, that page is still open anyone can read it!

"What-cha reading dork?" Ricky hands my phone over to Bryon while getting his over sized ass in my way.

"Its nothing just give it back!" I half yell at them hoping a teacher will hear the commotion and come see what's going on.

"Oh it looks like a story of some sorts, off … a … that website. I knew it!" Bryon snorts in victory. "You are such a dork reading about those losers from a babies TV show." He holds the phone up high above my head playing a twisted game of Monkey in the middle. "Come on dork I thought you wanted your phone back, go on take it" Bryon suddenly goes sideways, taking the brunt of a full body slam. The walls shake on impact and it's just a matter of seconds before teachers come running to see what's going on. I jump for my phone but Ricky snatches it away, only to have Mega hotness himself Lenny take the phone back.

"You know Ricky you shouldn't take things that don't belong to you. It's rude after all" Lenny holds my phone in his hands. I may never clean it again.

"Whatever Jennnie." Like I said Ricky isn't very smart, Lenny could lay him out with a few well placed kicks but he won't "Dork face has it coming reading that kids fan crap"

"Jennie? That's new, how long did it take for you to come up with that one?" Lenny flips the phone over and startles at the page in front of him. "Still not very creative but I'll give you an E for effort. It's probably the best grade you ever got" he turns away from Ricky and looks at me head on. I am so embarrassed I may never come back to this school again. "You like tmnt?" He asks me.

Yep, never coming back here again. Well they have all read it so I might as well own it. "Yaa. BattleWisdom is a great author what of it?"

"He is is he? How do you know it's a guy?" Lenny lets an eye brown raise up as a little smirk plays at the corner of his lips. It's a shockingly similar look that Leo gets on his face when he's planning something devious.

"Girls write a lot of emotional stuff and give the guys girlfriends to add drama and romance to it plus they have flowery, Jem stone hippy dippy names. Guys write about the battles and have tough sounding names. This personal clearly knows a few things about combat. They stay focused on the brothers and dishing out justice. Not something you would normally find in a females writing. Plus his profile says male." I may die of embarrassment. I can feel the heat climbing up my cheeks and then feel it flair when Lenny smiles at me. "Look out!" I jump forwards aiming to kick Ricky away or at least to divert the shameless cheap shot Ricky took when his opponent wasn't looking. To my amazement I land the blow but it's not very effective. I feel my knee give out and Lenny has to drop my phone to grab me before I hit the ground. I stumbled and take us both down to the ground with matching oomph sounds. Thankfully Myles grabs my phone as Deacon squares off with Ricky, so much for being smart. Sure he's tall but he's got nothing else going for him.

Ricky just laughs at him. Where the heck are the teachers? We've made so much noise and quite the commotion.

"Ricky" Lenny helps me up off the floor. "You two got no business over here so why don't you go find someone else to bug" with Lenny back on his feet and Bryon still trapped in a head lock with Roland it would be the smart thing to do but my luck holds true. Mr. Sheppard walks around the corner and instantly turns on us.

"Roland what is the meaning of this?"

Roland shoves Bryon's face a little closer to the wall "Mr. Sheppard, I caught someone bullying another student" Roland smoothly answers him

"Really because all I see is four people against two at the moment. Let him go" Mr. Sheppard smirks at me. "Why am I not surprised to find you in the middle of this mess, causing me more trouble as always. To the principles office with you"

"I think for the lady's protection we will accompany her there" Deacon backs up a few steps out of Ricky's reach. "I need to make a phone call anyway"

"Protection from what?" Mr. Sheppard growls at him.

"Not what, who" Deacon corrects as he takes up a post to me left leaving Lenny to my right. Myles takes point while Roland covers our back. Mr. Sheppard makes Ricky and Bryon fallow him as they fallow us.

Lenny leans in closer to me, taking my arm and making it hard to focus on anything else "That was a good kick but you need to improve your form if you want to actually hurt someone with it" he whispers to me "Where did you learn that anyway?"

"Umm, I was just imitating someone I saw do it on a movie" I scramble for a none lame answer.

"Oh, which movie?"

"I don't remember" I watch the office get closer to us and dread the phone call that's about to happen

"That's a shame, if you have some free time you should swing by my family's dojo, I could show you a few moves so they know you mean business if they ever bug you again"

"Really? I basically never have any plans but I wouldn't want to interrupt any lessons they have going on" I mentally chid myself for sounding so lame with that answer, cringing away at how I must sound like such a loner right now.

"Really? Don't got any plans with your friends?" he try's again.

"They hang out at the mall after school, not really my gig"

"Oh, umm family plans?"

"Not until supper at 7" There I go again sounding like the dork Ricky keeps accusing me of being.

"Oh, what about your boyfriend?"

"oh I don't have a boyfriend" Could I sound any more pathetic? Inner me just keeled over onto a fainting couch.

"How do you not have one?" he holds the door open for me as we walk into the office.

"No ones ever asked me out" The answer is out of my mouth before I can sensor myself and I'm horrified to my very soul. I rush past him and plunk my ass in the first chair I see that doesn't have any others around it.

He takes the first seat right there by the door, as far away from me as he can get and sits with a spin as stiff as a pole and looking very uncomfortable . Myles takes the spot beside me and barley sits still. Roland takes the corner seat like he owns it, like it's his thrown or something and slouched down legs going wide and arms taking up ever square inch of arm space. Deacon stays standing in a corner like he's watching over everything. Ricky and Bryon slither in behind a pompous looking Mr. Sheppard as Mr. Kerr, our school principal comes out of his office.

"What did he do now" Mr. Kerr reaches for the phone looking between Mr. Sheppard and Roland.

"He body slammed me into the wall for no good reason" Bryon whines at everyone.

"Then maybe next time you should get out of my way" Roland's face twists up in a toothy grin. "I …" He pauses with a look from Deacon.

"Roland was simply using his skill set to his advantage" Deacon pushes his glasses up his face as he faced off with Mr. Kerr. "Mr. Kerr, Mr. Sheppard didn't see these two bullying the lady, Roland realized that there were no teachers at all in that section of the school and acted rashly but his intent was not to harm, but merely to get them to back off"

"Roland acting rashly is an understatement" Mr. Sheppard stepped up next. "He had Bryon half eating the wall while Lenny, Deacon and Myles had Ricky cornered"

"Only after…" I shut up with a quelling look from Deacon.

"Only after Ricky tried to tackle Lenny from behind did Myles and myself step in, we would hate for the school to be without its star basketball player due to back injuries with the semi championship coming up. Our school could really use that extra grant money if the team wins this year" Deacon is really good at this, I can see Mr. Kerr is on the verge of popping a brain cell with how smoothly he is talking us out of trouble, if we would only keep our mouths shut and let him do his thing. "Roland could always use more practice time off the mat, that is if you still think he can go pro and bring more students in?"

"Yes very good points, I can't have either out of their game when we're this close to winning some government grants" Mr. Kerr looks pained by the idea of letting them off the hook. "But Myles should have kept walking"

" Are you saying that the school doesn't have a zero tolerance policy in effect anymore? That students can't stand up for not only themselves but other students as well?" Deacon is whipping the floor with them. "I'm not sure if I would feel safe coming back here knowing that. Maybe I should get a transfer slip going? If I hurry I can enter my electrical engine design at the next school and still qualify for the T.E.R.R.Y award."

"No!" Mr. Kerr looks ready to die at that idea, Deacon has won that award 3 years running now and is probably the only reason this school has a science lab anymore, a very nice lab to boot. "Its fine, the school has a very strict policy in place but this is a case of he said she said and without proof…" Deacon holds up his phone at this.

"Should we call the police then? I caught most of the exchange on camera. Ricky and Bryon were both involved in taking personal property, illegally searching through said personal property. Obviously teasing and making fun of a singled out, lone female while using intimidation tactics to further their game while she was clearly upset about the invasion of privacy" I could kiss this man right now. Watching my four biggest tormentors having to swallow that large a pill is priceless.

"On camera?" Mr. Kerr double checks,

"Yes" Deacon flips his phone he's been holding in his hand this whole time around and pushes a button, you can almost make out the sounds of Ricky and Bryon laughing at me, and then there's my squeaking voice demanding they give my phone back. A much louder grunt of disgust that is clearly Roland standing beside the phone. Deacon pauses it there. "Did you wish to see the rest of it or wait for the police to arrive?"

"No its fine, no need to ruin everyone's afternoon after all. You five are dismissed, we will deal with these two" Mr. Kerr shows us out of the office. Mr. Sheppard red face looks ready to pop while Ricky and Bryon are almost shaking in their boots. I don't think it's the mildly veiled threat of sicking the police on them that has them worried.

"And all better" Deacon smiles at us after we walk around the first corner.

"Guess I need to keep an eye on you, cuz after that their gonna be gunnin for ya" Roland relaxes his arm on top of my head.

"There always gunning for me" I swat at his arm but it's in vain.

"Vivian!" my oldest and dearest friend Rachel comes bounding around the corner. "Oh what happened? Did those two jerks bother you again?" she imposes herself between me and Roland, he can either rest his arm on her head or drop it. He leans in more and rests his arm across her blond locks. Nobody messes with her hair. "Hey buddie do you mind?" she try's to lift his arm up but she's simple to small to accomplish this task. "Maya! Make jerk face rest his arm somewhere else!"

"Jerk face?" Roland takes his arm back, and for the life of me he looks like he's truly hurt by the comment.

"What do you want me to do about it?" Maya is… well lets call her a little moody. She means well, I think. But she has this peculiar sense of humor that's very heavy on the sarcastic side. "If you didn't want to be a leaning post then grow some more Roch"

"That's not my name and you know it Manie!"

"Well that took all of 30 seconds for you two to start the name calling back up" Isolda sighs at us in generally. "Did the witless wonders bother you again Viv?"

" Yaa this time they took my phone, but they got it back for me and mr. Smartie pants over there got us all out of trouble too" I wave at the guys around me.

"Oh! That was so sweet of you" Isolda buts her way between me and them as well.

"They upped their games again." Maya starts chewing on her bottom lip. "Hey moving steroid commercial, you got first period with her right?'

"I don't use those. Why does everyone think I use them?" Roland demands looking at Lenny who has been very quite this whole time.

"Probably because of how you tripled your muscles mass in just over a year. Steroids are useless and fill your body with liquid to puff up, if he did gain his muscles that way they wouldn't hold out against anyone with real ones. The fact that he keeps winning even when facing superior opponents just points to them being real and not from a supplement" Deacon rambles on for a moment.

"Or its because he looks like that overstuffed asshole on the product cover" Myles doesn't even wait for the resounding roar that erupted out of Roland before he takes off down the hallways crackling in laughter.

"Shit for brains get back here! I'm gonna break that pretty boy face in half!" Roland sprints down the hallway after him.

"Look dinner and a show" Maya's hip sways out to the side.

On cue my stomach complains and my friends all stare at me in horror. "You forgot lunch again didn't you!" they point accusing fingers at me.

I stare at the floor in front of me . "Maybe" I won't confess right away.

"The cafeteria is closed by now Viv!" Isolda pouts at me.

"Why do you keep not eating?" Maya scowls at me.

"That is terrible for you! Why didn't you come find us once you realized it" Rachel pouts at me.

"Because Roland was supposed to pay back a favor and feed me." I show girl pose in front of the spot he was standing. "No Roland no food"

"Sorry" Lenny sputters at me for a moment. "He was helping me with something, that's why he asked for my help finding you after a search in the junk food shop welded no results. I had to track down Myles to help locate Deacon to find out the usual watering holes you might be at"

"That sounds like a complicated system. Why would you know where I am? I almost never see anyone down there during lunch"

"My fourth period class is down there and I see you waiting everyday for Isolda. Plus a process of elimination after a quick brain storm concluded that there was only a few plausible options as to your wear abouts …" I blink at him a few times trying to deceiver his word vomit.

"They knew you would be here since no one ever sees you during lunch time and it's really the only quite place around" Isolda explains for me. "Now what are we gonna feed you this time?"

"I can take her to the students councils room, they have a mini fridge that'll have something to eat in it." Lenny answers.

"Oh, like what?" Maya try's to stare him down. My she is being supper defensive today.

"Sandwiches, maybe a salad" Lenny answers her. "As the present of the student council board I can bring in other students without anyone complaining and it is kinda my fault she missed lunch so it's only fair that I help her find one now" he rubs the back of his head like he's thinking too hard about something.

"You allowed to bring this many in at once?" Maya steps in front of him, slightly getting in his face.

"Probably not but if it'll make you stand down I'll risk it" Lenny doesn't even blink at this.

"Don't get in trouble on my account again." I reef on Maya's arm dragging her back a few steps. "You guys already helped me a bunch today as it is I wouldn't want to bother you anymore…"

"No bother at all" Lenny smiles at me.

"Go help feed my girl then good sir" Rachel wraps an arm around Maya forcing her to turn around walk away from us. "We need to figure out how to keep her safe at lunch time without us around. Isolda, we need a way to trick her into joining a lunch time program that runs on the same day as cheer practice, what's our options?" I'm left standing there awkwardly as my evilly plotting friends ditch me.

"I'll see you in class" Deacon turns on a dime and walks away. "Better hurry up, lunch will be over in 15 minutes"

My stomach rumbles at me again. "Lets go see what we can find for you, if you'd like to that is" Lenny offers me an arm to hold. I'm strongly tempted to take it.

"Ummm, sure food sounds good" I relent and take the offered arm, his muscles feel just as strong as they look, I can feel them bunch and cord up as we walk and I have to mentally scream at myself not to drool on him or do something else equally embarrassing.

Down a short hallway an old classroom has clearly been converted into this hide a away spot for the best of the best this school has to offer. A few old couches are mostly arranged around a creped looking coffee table. There is a new mini fridge, water cooler and microwave off to one side. "Nice you don't have to wait in the never ending line at lunch time" I nod enviously at the microwave.

"Just one of the perks of this job" Lenny opens the mini fridge and I miss his body heat next to me already. "Lets see, we have unidentified sandwich A. And B. This looks like it could be made with Tuna, this one is bollagna and chesse. We have a long weekend special with extra mold on it" he pulls out a plate with fuzzy mold growing underneath the plastic wrap and almost gages throwing it in the trash can. "Ok, we have your standard green salad, mushy Cesar salad and whatever this is?" He pulls something forwards but doesn't show it to me. "My bad we normally have more or at least better choices in here" he ruefully grins at me.

"That's ok. The Tuna is probably the safest bet anyway" he hands it over and sits down beside me.

"Not a salad girl?" He leans back, makes a face and leaches forwards again to rest his elbows on his knees. "Don't lean back, something stabbed me"

"Ok" I halt my backwards momentum. "Thanks, for everything today" I sheepishly wave the sandwich in the air before taking a small bit to make sure it is edible. "I don't mind a salad every now and then but it needs something a little heavier to go with it or you just end up hungry again an hour later"

"Like a good steak" he offers up.

"Yaa, like a good steak" I agree before taking a bigger bit. "This is surprisingly good tuna sandwich. How did you know there would be extra food in there?" I ask nodding back at the mini fridge.

"Room policy. Take something leave something and add extra every now and then" he answers.

"Do I need to bring an extra sandwich with me tomorrow then?"

"No don't worry about it, I add new stuff all the time. Deacon is infamous for forgetting food, and that sleep is actually pretty important too." He grins again at me as the bell goes off.

"Oh, I've made you late for fourth!" I go to stand up but he stops me.

"Its fine, finish up and I'll walk you back to class so you don't get into any trouble. I required your assistance regarding the up coming school rally" he flashes a sly grin at me next.

"What could you possibly need my assistant for?"

"Why setting up the matts of course" he answers.

"Shouldn't I actually go help set them up then?" I offer up.

"Naa, Roland is in charge of that today, he'll cover for me without batting an eye lash"

On our way back to my class we hear some people arguing in the gym so naturally he has to go investigate.

"Oh whatever Roland! You where totally hitting on that tramp" I recognize that voice, and I don't like her.

"No I wasn't, a friend of mine is into her" Roland dumps a large pile of mats on the gym floor. "I was simply helping out a fellow classmate that's all cherry" Roland looks ready to dump and run. Cherry is an inspiring model, she's drop dead gorgeous but a total bitch.

"Hey Roland need some help in here?" Lenny half yells across the gym getting both their attentions.

"Yes, I am behind and the rally will start soon" Roland calls back. "Cherry was just on her way back to class because we can discuss this later" Roland points a look at her and she angary storms off smashing her heels into the recently polished floors as she goes.

"Why don't you just dump her already?" Lenny askes him as we walk up. I go to plug my ears but Roland waves it off.

"Because she keeps the other crazies away"

"Sounds legit to me" Lenny's head snaps back around to look at me oddly. "Bitches be loco?" I try again, thankfully they both laugh and agree with me. With just three more matts to go Roland heads down to the office to let them know the gym is ready for the students. This prep rally will most likely take the rest of the school day and I'm kinda glad. It'll show off our big name stars, the cheerleading squad too, list of basic credentials needed to join and who to talk too if your thinking about trying out after school today. My class gets there first and my teacher eye balls me helping set up the last mat, he waves me off and I know I'm not in any trouble. Guess I really was late because I was helping set up the gym with Lenny and Roland. Isolda winks as she walks past me and I'm a little confused what its for. Then promptly forgot all about it when Lenny offers to walk me back to my class. "That is my class over there" I point to the group of kids taking their seats on the bleachers.

"Oh, well since there here, if you don't mind I could use a bit more help"

"Oh sure, what else do you need help with?" I look around, everything seems to be in place already.

"The cheerleading squad needs help, the dang radio isn't working again and your really good at electronic equipment stuff" Isolda offers up.

"Oh, okay let me take a look" I turn around and we walk back in single line towards the girls starting to gather around a cd player.

"Excellent news everyone I found someone to help with the radio player problem" Isolda announces, we got a few funny looks but Maya hands me a small tool kit she brings everywhere with her. I carefully open it up and start poking around inside, nothing seems to be disconnected. I test a few more wires and tighten two up but that shouldn't have made it stop working. I tripled check to make sure nothing is fired, frayed or otherwise damaged but it looks ok to me. I put it back together and sigh at them.

"You should have plugged it in first" I point at the other end of it.

"Oh, my bad" Isolda half giggles at me.

"Guess I should go find a seat before there all taken" I turn around only to have Roland swing his arm around my shoulders.

"Someone messed with the matts" I see a few out of place and sigh, no wonder these things take forever to set up. "Be a doll and help Lenny fix them for me? I gotta… go help Deacon set something up" he takes off without waiting for my answer, I don't see Deacon anywhere in the gym yet but dutifully head back to shuffle the mats around, looks like someone kicked at a few of them for some reason. Lenny could have fixed this easily enough on his own, I may honestly be slowing him down.

"Thanks for all your help" Lenny starts chatting at me again.

"Its no problem at all. You saved my keester today"

"Are you going try out for any of the teams today after school?" We stand up straight.

"Oh I don't think so, I'm not very athletic"

"What about the cheerleading squad?"

"Oh definitely not, I don't think I would make a very good cheerleader, a little to quite, certainly not very perky and happy kinda person"

"Yaa cuz Maya and Isolda make great cheerleaders. It looks good on your resume to be apart of school activities" he smiles at me walking back to the water fountain. "Most of those girls don't fit that stereo type either, they just plaster a smile on and keep going. Can you smile really big?" he asks, then waves me on to try. I feel really awkward but try my best. "Hey that wasn't so bad a few more times and I bet you'd look just as overly cheery as the rest of them. What about making a Y with your arms?" he holds his arms up first "Give me a Y" smiling and Laughing mostly to myself I raise my arms up too. "Straighten out your arms…. Like so, see you could make a great cheerleader" I feel some heat start up in my cheeks again and bow my head. "and as a bonus you get out of last period early for any games the school has, trips are mostly covered for away games, you could spend more time with friends, maybe make a few more?"

"I … guess that could be fun" in reality I think I would die if I tried out and was turned down. "I don't have a job or a car though so I don't know how I would get to the games or any of the latter practices"

"I'm sure someone could give you a ride, and out of town games there's a bus everyone takes" he leans one shoulder against the wall

"Well… I guess I can always ask Isolda's parents to pick me up on the way to school, or maybe Maya can pick me up for some games…"

"The cheerleaders help each other out that way, some of the players on the teams pick the girls up too, just depends on who is closer to who or who's already on the way there. It's a system of sorts"

"Well, it would be nice to get out of the house more often, and it would put the girls at ease at lunch times, I guess there's no harm in just trying out" I shrugs it off mostly.

"Excellent, oh darn" he looks back at the gym, it's almost completely full of students now.

"Oh no! Now I'll have to sit beside some freshmen" I pout at this idea, not because I had any other friends in my current class but because I am taller then them and they sit on the hard ground…. Again the bleachers aren't much better but at least your ass isn't cold to boot.

"… Or, I'm just throwing it out there you can come sit with me." He bits the edge of his lip waiting for me to answer.

"… but, I'm not like apart of the student council or the boys basketball team, I'm sure…"

"Its cool, another perk of the job, you where helping me set up, and maybe you can help me tear it all down after too? It'll be easier to find you after this way"

"…Well, I guess if you won't get in trouble. I won't mind helping after either, there will be some time before try outs right? I might as well keep myself busy till then" He smiles ear to ear and shows me towards a bunch of seats off to the side of the podium. It feels odd sitting in front of the school like this. My heart beats a little faster and he shows me to the first seat closest to the main stage and sits down next to me.

"Not much for being center stage I see" he grins while I roll my eyes. "Just try not to think about them, or pitcher them mostly naked"

"Why would I do that?"

"No idea, people says it's supposed to help with nerves but personally I just pretend no one is there. And practice any talking I need to do for days before hand"

"The key to your success?" he chuckles with me.

"Yaa something like that"

Mr. Kerr takes the podium first, gives out his spulle and lets Lenny take over, he has to calm everyone down before he can rattle off a basic list of what's going down. He then show cases both the girls and boys sport teams, listing various achievements, the cheerleading squad does a short piece. He brings it all to a close by telling everyone he hoping to sees a lot of people out for the try outs, because if you never try you'll never know if you can. Mr. Kerr reminds us of the coming game this Saturday and before he came shut the system down Myles sneaks up and announces a big party at his place after the game, win or loss and everyone that shows up to cheer us on is invited! He gets chased off by Mr. Kerr as the gym goes crazy again. It's 2 but everyone is dismissed for the day and as the gym empties of students I am left dreading the coming try outs, why or more importantly how did I get talked into it in the first place. Right mega hotness himself suggested it and I feel for it.

"Lenny says your trying out for the cheerleading squad?" Isolda sneaks up beside me startling me.

"Yaa he kinda talked me into it. Was it a bad idea? Should I run away before totally embarrassing myself?"

"Not at all, you've helped us practice a bunch of times and where a natural at it, if anything knowing Rachel will basically guarantee you get in" her head bobbles up and down in thought. "It'll look great on your resume, we can keep an eye on you during lunch, stud muffin over there solved our problems for us"

"Stud muffin?" Deacon rolls his eyes at this. "What is with the female populations obsession with muscled men like that?"

"There pretty to look at" I answer him. "But it does depend on the woman's personal preference too"

"We are bombarded with images of men looking like that and told to think that we should look for a man just like it. We are simply falling for the same tactics as you boys do in regards to female models, how tall and slender they are. Or how about the porn industry? Do any of you realize that most of the boobs are fake, the waist lines photo shopped and skin smoothed over?"

"Its not natural to be that good looking all the time. Most of us are aware that there fake, some choose to ignore that anyway. That's the beauty of a fantasy, we all know there not real but we still indulge in them" Deacon gets this glint in his eyes. "And how can a man tell what a woman's personal preference is when none of you tell us what's going on in your heads, were not mind readers you know"

"No one is asking you to be mind readers, we hope that if you really are paying attention to us that you will be able to figure out what's wrong, or maybe just ask us? One should never underestimate the power of a good vocabulary my good sir" Isolda starts that up and it's my queue to leave, I frantically wave my hands around seeking help but Rachel is busy talking to Myles and Maya is getting the cheerleading squad girls into a line and sorting out a number system that will make the judging process go faster.

"Pst, this way before they see us" Lenny grabs my hand and pulls me away. "Thank goodness we got out of there before he got going" he continues our brisk walk for a few more steps

"Never mind him, she gets a grip on an interesting topic and consider your day done, even if it's just 9 am and your first cup of coffee" I giggle at the memory.

"Duly noted. I prefer tea myself but coffee comes in handy every now and than" He doesn't drop my hand even as we slow down and I take note of a few evil stares aimed at us.

"Did I do something wrong?" I didn't mean to ask the question out loud but now that its out there I'll do my best to roll with it.

"Umm, not that I'm aware of why?" his hand looseness its grip a little bit and I feel him start to pull away. "Did I do something wrong?"

"I don't think your capable of doing anything wrong, but were getting a few evil glares from that group of girls, I was worried that's all" I realized my slip up to late and keep my eyes averted hoping he missed it.

"According to Mr. Kerr I do a lot of things wrong. Just ignore them, there never happy with anyone"

"Mr. Kerr is a terrible person and hates everyone. Nothing is ever good enough for him. So long as you stay out of his way he doesn't care too much about what you do in the daily grind." I can finally look back at him without blushing.

"Guess I'm S.O.L then? Being the boss means I get to get in his way a lot"

"Funny, I would thought of that as a perk to the job" he bursts out laughing at me drawing more attention to us, earning a few more evil glares in the process.

"Yaa I guess it is in a way"

"Yo captain" a boy shouts out to us. "Were ready over here if your done" it's a not so Subtle suggestion that he get done so they can get on with it.

"Yaa I'll be right there" he waves them off. "Guess I should get going, good luck with your try out"

"Yaa they need you over there, thanks and good luck finding a new teammate" I give a dinky little wave off as he takes a step back.

"Thanks" he turns around and jogs over to his team, he gets hassled about something and I almost don't look away in time. I would just die if he caught me looking at him like that. A girl snickers at me as I walk past her, I hope she's just your standard mean girl and didn't see my ogling him.

Try outs is easy, I know this routine because I helped Rachel make it up. Even so it's been a few months and stumbled a bit with a last minute change she made to it. I am oddly voted in, 12 out of 17 girls liked me. Two other girls are picked to round us up to 20 even. Were told we were given special permission to do daily practice in the gym this week since there is a game on Saturday… oh yea?… well I'm on the team now. I need to go pick up a better sports bra tonight, black botty shorts and a tight dark colored tank top. Presumably so they can watch our form and make sure we're doing it right to avoid injuries and to get use to showing off more skin then we might like. What was I thinking! Sigh. Were dismissed and sent home but the sport teams are still doing their thing so I just wave goodbye to Lenny and the others. It didn't even feel awkward, thou Roland pinning a poor freshman without mercy simply so he could wave back was humorous.

Back at home I wait for Amanda to tell her the exciting news, who promptly rushes us off to get what I need for the next day. Back home Curt gets excited about it but wants to know what prompted the change so I end up telling them about my whole day in detail. Only to calm Curt down about the bullies in class and how a certain boy, cough cough …Roland … coming to my rescue twice in one day. There he owes me another one. I'm exhausted by 9 and pass out on top of my sheets.

(Tuesday)

 _I swing out high and wide to distract him as Leo goes low._

 _Mikey pops out of a time portal to drop in from above._

 _Donny fidgets with something while Raph and Mona Lisa cover him_

 _It's all going according to plan, soon, soon we can be free of the shredder. Donny just needs a little more time.._

I startle awake dripping sweet. Wow, that was one messed up dream. I think at first that it's just my mind telling me to be brave about cheerleading practice today. Then I start to wonder if maybe I do need a few more friends. Or possibly I need to cut back on my tmnt binge watching and fan story reading, I can perusing them for hours at a time. Yikes I need to get out more often. I'm sure most normal people don't dream about going on crazy adventures with giant mutant ninja turtles, yet somehow it felt more like a memory then a dream.

Yaa I'm going crazy. I shake my head at this pulling on some clothes for the day. I get downstairs ahead of schedule and Apr… I mean Amanda has my new stuff all washed and ready to go. It occurs to me that daily practice means daily washing, maybe if this works out I should get a second outfit so I don't have to be doing laundry every day. We even make it to school on time! Roland promptly takes a seat beside me in class and I'm a little worried about what could be happening today.

"Walking steroids commercial reporting for duty" he half jokes with me. I am a little confused until I see Ricky and Bryon flipping me off from outside the door.

"Oh god they really are gunnin for me aren't they?" I look back at him slightly terrified of what this could mean.

"Looks like it, what's your schedule for today?" he reaches for me class list print out sheet still in my binder. "Day six, science next, room 21 with Mr. Smith. Myles will keep an eye on you next."

"Umm no offense or anything but what can he do against them" I nod at the empty doorway.

"You'd be surprised what he can do against bigger guys. He meet Lenny a few years ago when his parents signed him up for some classes hoping to help him deal with his own bullies in school"

"Really? Interesting, how did you meet them? And Deacon too, you're an odd sods sort of group"

"Funny, I was thinking the same about you and your friends, ya don't seem to have much in common. Deacon helped me with some homework and I meet Myles at a party, shortly after that I meet Lenny. Turns out Deacon helps a lot of people with their homework, he knew Lenny before I did. You gals?" he askes quietly

"I meet Rachel first, she introduced me to the others and declared us all the best of friends forever more from that day forwards. And it's kinda just stuck with us." I shrug it off as the bell goes off. He folds the sheet up and puts it away in his binder before handing me my phone… MY PHONE! I start internally freaking the fuck out.

"Lenny forgot about stashing it in his pocket after yesterdays cluster fuck, gave it to me this morning to make sure you got it back. Says he really sorry, he didn't snoop, just turned it off to save the battery life as much as possible for you" he explains for me. I breathe a little easier but am still horrified by what he could have done with it. I wait until Mr. Sheppard has his back turned to us to turn it on and shove it in my bra hoping the volume is still turned off... Bless Lenny for not messing with the volume button! I feel it vibrate a hole bunch and know I have several messages to deal with.

As soon as class is over I'm out that door, Roland hot on my heels, and as soon as I'm out that door my phone is open and in my hands. I have 22 messages, most of which I don't recognize the numbers… What? I open the first one. It's from another girl on the Squad letting me know that if I need a ride to a game I can reach her at this number. As fast as my fingers can fly I'm responding with a thanks and saving it into my phone book. Next one is from another girl letting me know that she orders the uniforms for the team and to see her asap so we can find me a temp uniform until my own comes in, in about two weeks. Another thanks and another new number in my book. All in all I get 15 messages from the squad letting me know who's at what number and who can drive me, who may need lifts and who has no idea what's going on either. If it wasn't for Roland I may have face planted a few times getting to my next class. I don't have time to go over the next 7 messages so I shut my phone and give Roland a thank you hug before disappearing into my next class. I get a bunch of glares from some of the girls but ignore them assuming their mad that I made the cut and they didn't. Maya said to expect that for a few days to weeks.

After class I am greeted by Myles, right, Roland said I was getting escorted around school to avoid anything bad happening to me because of the witless wonder boys. They were very unimpressed by him being there, and looked ready to hurt us both. I had three girls from the squad in third period and didn't even know it until today when they asked if I wanted to sit with them. A bit awed by this I said sure and got to experience a form of popularity for the first time. We even got some gossip like chat in before class started and I forgot to check the last of my text messages. The bell goes off for lunch and Rachel meets me at the door to remind us all that there's daily lunch practice to get us all up to date on the current routines. I am a bit nervous dumping my stuff into my locker, what if I don't get the routines as fast as the others? What if I royal mess them up?

"Hey, what you thinking about so hard?" Lenny walks up to my locker.

"Oh, hey yourself. I'm just a little nervous about cheer practice that's all"

"Oh yaa, you ladies got extra practice time too, dang I was hoping you would be free for lunch today. Guess I'm on my own then" he ruefully grins at me.

"What about Roland? Deacon? Myles?"

"Roland has extra gym practice today, Deacon is in over drive mood so he's basically locked himself in the science lab for the next few weeks until his current project is complete and Myles almost never stays for lunch. It's cool I can hang with a team mate in the cafeteria" he waves it off and I have this urge to invite him to practice but I don't know if I can do that, next I feel like throwing up, what if I made a fool of myself in front of him? "You ok? You look ready to hurl"

"Just worried about practice that's all"

"Aww, just relax I'm sure you'll do great… hmmm, why don't I walk you to the gym" he swings an arm over my should after spotting Ricky and Bryon creeping my way. "Wouldn't want anything happening to you before hand." He shuts my locker and spins the lock before guiding me away from them. I am in giggling school girl crush mood with his arm draped around my shoulders like this. Hips occasionally bumping into mine as we casually meander to the gym. Both slowing down the closer we get. His pulls me in tight for a one armed hug and butterflies upend my stomach. "Well I guess you don't need me anymore. I hope practice goes over well" he lets go and I almost swoon back into him.

I try for a light hearted chuckle first off. "Thanks for walking me here" I wave goodbye as he walks away, only to be greeted by some guys a few steps later. I sigh contentedly walking into gym, only to come face to face with some mean girls glaring a hole in my head just on the other side of the swinging doors.

"Just what do you think you are doing?" I'm a little thrown off by this.

"Ummm, going to cheerleading practice" I answer them, mood completely ruined now.

"Yaa you know you only got that spot because your friends with Rachel right? Not out of talent or anything important like that" the one in the back I recognize as another cheerleader but I can't put a name to the face.

"I'm guessing that you didn't vote for me. But since I got a majority vote into the group then I'd have to say you were wrong about me" I pull my inner Maya up to face them. There just trying to get me to quit so there friend can join. I can deal with these stuck up bitches on my own easy peasy.

"Ok you got some moves I'll give you that and you have helped us come up with some sick new ones but you still don't belong on this team" She huffs out at me.

"Who cares about the stupid cheer squad. I'm talking about you cozying up to Lenny. Think your some big shot now do you? He's only pitting you, someone like him could never be interested in someone like you" I can feel the hate for me in her angry words.

"He offered to walk me here" I can't think of anything better to come back with

"Oh please the whole school knows he saved you fat ass yesterday. He's only doing this to make sure you don't mess something else up"

"I'm not fat" I can feel the tears threatening to fall. I have never been secure in the way I look, this cuts me to the core. Maybe there right and he's just trying to be nice to me. Maybe it's all been in my head.

"Oh that's just wrong, did you really think you ever had a chance with him? Please he should only be with the best of the best and clearly that's not you" she stares down on me as I feel like running away from them. "Don't be a cry baby about it, just go back to whatever hole you crawled out of"

"ROSE!" Rachel pops out around the corner raging and red faced. "Vivian is far more talented then you can ever hope to be. She earned her spot and if Lenny was interested in you he would have tapped it and moved on by now. Lord knows you practically throw yourself on him every chance you get in a pathetic display of desperation. Lynn you get to do laps all practice, better get started because I expect to hear numbers for every lap, no less then 40" Lynn goes pasty white and takes off for the change rooms as fast as her legs can go. "Come on viv, we have better things to do then listen to this harpy"

"Saved again by someone else, how terribly sad" Rose sneers after me.

"She's right you know. I can't ever seem to save myself" I try not to sniffle but it happens anyway.

"She's also the school whore. Ignore her ok. You have many great quality's she can't even fathom let alone hope to gain in her life time. Maya care to sick someone on Rose for picking on Viv?"

"What'd she do?" Maya asks as her brain flips over to who is best suited for the task based on the intel she is given.

"She tried telling our girl she's pathetic and unworthy of someone's attention" Rachel answers and Maya sees red then black.

Maya jumps up screaming "I'm gonna pound that little sluts face in myself!" it sends Rose fleeing from the gym.

"I have some amazing friends" I laugh with Rachel. "Thanks guys" Lynn pops out of a side door and immediately goes into her laps without a single word to anyone. "You don't think she'll hate me for that punishment do you?" I worry about what kind of statement that can send to the other girls.

"listen up" Rachel bellows out. "Lynn's been dying to tell you why she's in trouble, Lynn?" the gym as a whole stops to watch the girl running around by herself.

"I'm in trouble for being a bully, a tempting to intimate and picking on one of the new girls" Lynn bellows back at us slightly out of breath. "I accept my punishment in regards to my actions and will endeavor to be a better and more caring person hens forth, for my actions are a direct reflection of, and may effect my team in negative ways and this is not the cheerleading way" She's half blue in the face but keeps up the pace calling out one as she rounds the last corner.

"I run a tight ship and expect everyone to treat others with respect, you don't all have to be besties but I do not tolerate bullies in my squad!" Rachel yells out next. "If you can not be civil to others you are not welcomed here" the old squad members don't bat an eye lash at this, us newbies look awe struck that little itty bitty Rachel can be so strong and fierce looking. "That being said we are a family here, there is always someone that you can run too if you need help. Now today will practice vocal projection, were we aim to not hurt ourselves but be load enough for everyone to hear us"

It's a long lunch break learning to speak up without yelling. My throat still hurts at the end of it but milk and water calm the burning down. I still say as little as possible for the rest of the school day. Isolda takes me to last period and Maya gives me a ride home. I flop over onto my bed, I finally have a chance to dissect my dream last night in peace and quiet.

It was a very strange dream. There I was, a female mutant turtle fighting beside the boys, and kicking some ass too! Although a sweet idea I think it means I need to lay off the AU story lines on that fan webpage. A girl turtle, hogposh… although… it would make more sense that mutant boy turtles date mutant girl turtles and not humans. Hmmm, one could argue that since they are mutated are they still considered just turtles or would that make them at least partly human? They are humanoid after all, they could be part of even mostly human on a genetic level. Either way they certainly are not the by product of a genetic leap forwards, and half the time it doesn't say what or who's DNA they were mutated with… I hit the power button on my computer and wait for it load. I need a few other opinions on this.

(Wednesday)

" _Running across the rooftops takes some getting use too. It's hard on the feet, not sticking the landing can hurt joints, and if you ever have to roll to absorbed impact your shell is taking a beating" light blues eyes pierce into my soul. "Its this black crumbly stuff they put up here, it'll take skin off if your not careful"_

" _Its called ash fault" Donny corrects without even looking up from his tablet._

I wake up with a smile on my face, I remember that day, Mona Lisa didn't stick her landing even after Leo's warning, took a chunk out of her skin and twisted her ankle…

Wait what?

Ok it's official I've lost it. I really need to lay off the fan site for a bit. I try to recall but am unable to remember who wrote that story or what it was called. Either way my sense of reality is going sideways on me if I'm putting myself in someone else's shoes like that.

Instead of debuting on my slipping mental capacity I get dressed for the day, eat breakfast and wait for my ride to be ready. I look over at the clock and realize it's only 6:30 in the morning… Since when do I get up before 8am? Oh well guess I got some extra time.

"What you looking for?" Curt asks as he walks into the room.

"My yoga mat I have some extra time for a few katas" I answer looking under the couch I could have sworn that's where I put it last.

"Since when did you have a yoga mat and what the heck are katas?" Curt pauses mid step to look at me awkwardly.

I sigh and give up. "Never mind I'll find it later. I'm a smudge tired still, I'm all ready for class so just wake me up when it's time to start ok" I answer crawling onto the couch for a short nap.

… … …

"Hey short stuff, time to go to school" Curt's poking me in the face

"Food, lunch or money" I garble out at him rolling off the couch.

"You said you were ready to go, your lunch has already been made at any rate" Curt looks irritated with me. Sure enough it's sitting there waiting for me but I don't remember making it… or getting dressed… or how I made it to the couch... "What does your yoga mat look like maybe I can find it for you today"

"I don't have a yoga mat, been thinking about getting one, man I must have been sleepwalking or something this morning" my head hurts as I grab my jacket.

"Aaaaaa…. Maybe we should take you down to the hospital or something first" Curt looks really worried. "Ya do realize it's almost summer right?" I'm completely baffled starting at my winter coat in my hands. "What'cha eat for breakfast anyway?" He peers into my bowl. "So, no more yogurt and granola and strawberries for breakfast for you missy" I don't disagree with him.

"Maybe I just need to get out for a bit, some fresh air won't hurt. Besides I don't want to miss practice today and risk getting kicked off, but I promise to call if I start to feel any worse ok?" I slip my feet into runners today just to be safe.

He sighs at me but relents shutting the door behind us.

School goes by normally enough… for the first half. I seem to have suddenly become a master at projecting my voice over night. I also seem to be a natural at athletic stuff like jumping, yet I almost didn't pass gym last year. It's a little freaky but I let it slide, even the part where I felt the need to correct Rachel about how she was doing a dance step wrong. I'll talk to her later about it. We all agree to hit the mall up after school, the squad knows some great places to find some cheap active wear.

"Hey" Lenny walks up to me at the vending machine. "What you doing after school today?" he try's for a casual lean against the wall and it makes me smile. Sure buddy I totally don't see that your trying to flex muscles without seemingly like it while trying for an air of indifference. Too cute but I wasn't born yesterday.

"I'm hanging out with the squad after school, I need more active wear for practice" I answer him. He's a total hottie but I'm not just going to swoon like a love struck fool for him, he's going to have to work for it a bit. Well that's what Maya said I should do… he looks a little lost for a moment.

"Aa, cool. More equipment is better than less" he grins at me.

"No, I'm more concerned about the quality of the equipment rather than the amount of it" I fight the urge to giggle like a school girl at the innuendos going on right now. "How effective it is, is also important too. It needs to be able to do the job right the first time or there's no point in trying it on a second time " I think Maya would be proud of me right now.

"Quality over quantity then?" I nod with a small agreeable mhmm sound. "Well then I know the perfect place to get the most bang for your buck. Meet me at the food court at 5, in front of the little Chinese palace and I'll be happy to share a secret with you" he's fighting his own grin and it makes it hard to not laugh at it all.

"I heard that the noodles suck at the little Chinese palace" I try not to involve food in this twisted game.

"Oh you don't go for the noodles. You go for the rice balls" seems he has no problem dragging the food into this..."And the meat of course" he wiggles his eye brows at me suggestively and I feel heat creep up my cheeks. "They got the best meat around if you know what to look for. 5 pm ok" he winks walking away with a huge grin going and the second he's around the first corner I'm off faster than the flash to locate Maya and kiss her for the advice!

I can't focus for the life of me during fourth or fifth period. Isolda even looks excited for me. The bell rings and I'm off like a rocket out that door.

"Hey dork" Ricky reaches my locker first.

"I don't have time today" I hip check him out of my way, reef my locker open toss my books inside and slam it back home before he can recover. "Later Ricky" I practically skip out of the school to his bewildered and confused look. Rachel is waiting for me with her mom and has convinced her to swing by my place first. I don't want to make it too obvious that I did anything but need to improve a few things. Maya is on Skype while Rachel is digging through my closest for me.

"Short and black" Maya offers up.

"No that's too aggressive for her" Rachel counters. "Something light and causal" she pulls a blue blouse out.

"Too stuffy. She can't go from shy and unaware to sexual in nature to nun in 24 hours. Boys are stupid and need a clear and concise instructions for what you want. And she clearly wants him between her legs so…"

My head snaps around to stare at her wide eyed "MAYA!" I shriek "It may have been a little charged but that doesn't mean…"

"A **little**? Girl you were practical drooling at the idea when you got to us" Maya's devil may care grin is firmly in place.

"I was not!"

"The thought crossed your mind, admit it, you would have taken it right there if he had offered" Maya digs in a but deeper.

"Maya! That's how you conduct your business, Viv has more class then that" Rachel shakes her head. "She would have at least made it to the janitors closet first" they bust a gut mocking me.

"AAAA! I thought you guys were going to help me not make fun of me!" I half scream at them.

"What's going on in here?" Curt bangs on my door in warning. Crap I forgot it was his day off.

"Don't come in I'm not fully dressed!" I freak out at the door opening up. It promptly slams shut without any one getting an eye full. "I need to change before going to the mall and I won't be home for supper but should be home soon after, I'll have my phone on me and call if I need anything ok"

"Why are you changing first? Who's going with you, how late are you going to be?" Curt inquiries from behind the door.

"I'll be with the squad finding cheap places to find active wear, I should be done around 7..8? 9" I spot Maya and Rachel giving me funny faces and shaking their heads no at me

"Well which is it?" Curt sounds confused again.

"9" I go with that. "I will be home by 9 absolutely latest. Finding good sport bras that don't let the girls bounce around all willy nilly can take a long time you know" it's a little throat cut going right for his number one "nope" topic but I don't have time for this.

"Right, I'll let Amanda know when she gets home, call us if you need a ride or anything" and like so we can hear his fleeing footsteps away from us.

"Works like a charm every time" I giggle a bit with them as Rachel reaches back into my closet determined to locate something just right for me.

At the mall I keep checking my watch and growing frustrated that it's not 5 yet. But I do find a good sports bra at the sporting good store. Rachel shuues me off at 4:55 saying it's good to be a few minutes late, I won't look desperate. So fully loaded with new lines thanks to Maya, a kick ass outfit thanks to Rachel and butt loads of encouragement from Isolda I do my best not to run to the food court. The Chinese palace is kitty corner of me, beside the juicy juice stand. I'm hoping I didn't miss him somehow.

"Just one today ma'am?" I am greeted by a lovely lady in some traditional Chinese robes.

"No I'm meeting someone here" I try to keep as much excitement out of my voice as possible but I see the smile lift up at the edges for me.

"Would you like to see if they are already seated? We have a few waiting for their dates" She offers up.

"That would be fantastic, I'm about 5 minutes late" She takes a walk with me but I don't see him. I say thanks and sit back down in the waiting area for him feeling less sure of myself. It's not a fancy restaurant, but it's a nice one for a mall food court option. I try to keep my eye off my watch and keep a look out for him but end up accepting a glass of water while I wait.

5 minutes, 10, 15, 20… My nerves are fraying around the edges and I shoot off a text asking what I should do to Isolda. I get a red flaming emoji from Maya and sad eyes from Rachel. There coming to rescue me as a group. I get a few others from the remaining squad that are still here as well. Even Lynn is shocked that he was a no show and offers her apologies for it. Alice worries something might be wrong and to text him but I don't have his number. Why didn't I get his number from him? Why didn't I give him mine! That lovely lady from before looks miffed on my behalf as well.

"Some boys" she mutters out loud for all to hear.

"Yaa, guess it was too good to be true. Why would Lenny like me?" I sigh as she startles.

"Lenny, as in Lenny Holland?" She asks giving me her full attention.

"Umm, yes do you know him?"

"Comes here every Thursday with his parents, if he said he would meet you here then I would be worried about him rather than mad or upset" She looks down at a sheet on the podium. "He asked for a corner spot for today, that's his reservation sign we passed" … over in the dark corner? He got us a dark corner spot that's pretty secluded from the rest of the restaurant… oh butterflies are back…

"He at least meant to come here, guess I won't pound his head in then" Maya looks disappointed with the news.

"But that means something is wrong or happened to him!" Rachel freaks out a bit and rapid fires text messages off faster then I thought possible. "Dang it no one has his number" She looks back up at the hostesses who shakes her head no at us, she doesn't have it either. "Hey he had your phone for a while maybe he programmed it in for you" curiously I start flipping through my contacts and sure enough there's a new number in it with him name beside it. He even took a selfie to put his photo beside it all. Cheeky. I don't recognize what's in the background, I shot off a text message inquiring if everything is ok.

"its been like 45 minutes, I'm sure you can take the reservation sign down now. Sorry for holding the table up" I shiver waiting for a response and grow worried with each second that ticks by and I don't hear back from him.

Maya drives us all back to my place where we stare at my phone for another hour but to our growing horror there's still no response. Finally they leave for the night and I can't stop myself from shooting off another text message. -Please let me know if your ok, Vivian-

(Thursday)

 _Swords clash, someone cry's out in pain, Raph bellows in rage. Mikey looks scared holding a limp body in his hands, Donny is distracted tending to another female. We are running out of ways to keep them safe, Leo and I can't keep this up for much longer…_

Wow! I jolt up in bed. Scary dream. I dismiss it looking at my phone, still no response from Lenny. I rush through getting ready and flip the news channels looking for something but find nothing. As a result I'm grumpy for the car ride to school.

I dump my stuff and take a seat, eyes glued to the door waiting for Roland to come. Then grow petrified when he doesn't come to class. I try to calm myself down, he plays hooky from time to time, I'm sure nothings wrong, I just need to take a chill pill. Still something is digging at the back of my brain, something went wrong last night and I'm out of the loop again.

After class I brush off Ricky and Bryon who look mad about this, I am on a mission damn it, I don't have time for them. I rush down hallways ignoring the odd stares I am getting. A little birdie told me Myles has second period in room 8 just down here. Jackpot! I spot him and shove a girl out of the seat beside him.

"Myles" I square up with him.

"Oh good I was going to find you after this class" Myles looks absolutely bummed out this morning. "Lenny's at the hospital" my blood freezes in place as everyone in the room goes quite at this. "The dojo was attacked last night, someone set it on fire and Lenny ran inside to help his parents get the late afternoon class of little kids in there out safety. He's being treated for possible smoke inhalation along with his parents, the extra instructors and some of the kids" by now he has everyone's undivided attention. "I'm not family so they wouldn't tell me anymore, I just know he would feel bad about not being able to tell you himself and to say he was sorry about the missed date. Don't be mad at the dude ok"

"I'm not mad, I'm ok being stood up for that date, it was for a good reason." I remember to breath again and shoot off a text message to Rachel about it, between the two of them everyone in school should know about it soon enough. I grab a pen and jot down my number on his arm. "text me when we know more ok?"

"Sure dudet"

I scamper out the door and rush to my next class knowing I'll never make it before that bell goes off. Second and third have me fielding questions about Lenny as best as I can, but I know even less then Myles and send them to him after a bit. Some people are worried about the game this Saturday now, if he can't play what are the odds of us still winning? According to the math geeks in our school probability now stands at less then 50/50 odds. Cheer practice is pretty tame for us, mostly just working on getting our chants in sync.

Ricky and Bryon try to corner me after fourth but half the squad tells them off. After school they finally get me. No messing around, just crack me upside the head. I've never been punched before and it knocks me on my ass. Someone cry's out as I crumple to the floor. Next thing I know Donny drop kicks Bee pop from the side into some lockers while Mikey and Mona Lisa rip into Rocksteady. I shake my head trying to clear the cobwebs but only succeed in rattling my brain around more. Donnie's in my face now asking me to blink if I can hear and understand him. Left then the right. He ducks out to get something and next thing I know its Deacon telling me to do the exact same thing for him. Left then right. Mr. Sheppard comes barreling around the corner with a ghostly outline of Shredder's outfit around him, it disappears fast enough but I'm left scared of him anyway.

"Vivian can you hear me?" I blink up at Deacon as an answer again. "How many fingers am I holding up?" I look over but can't focus on his hand. It looks green.

"Three" I answer. "Maybe six'

"Right I'm calling you an ambulance" Deacon reaches for his phone only to have Mr. Sheppard stop him.

"Already done"

"Great" He flips his old school turtle com out. "Then I can call the police and report the attack" he punches in 911 before Mr. Sheppard can say otherwise

"You have no proof" Mr. Sheppard snarls at him.

"How about a witness" Rose steps around a corner. She must have been the one screaming. "I saw it all, unprovoked and brutal" She's shaking a little bit in her boots but standing up tall. "It was a cheap shot from behind" She's stating it like a fact. "And since everyone knows I don't like Vivian or associated with her in any manor I have no reason to lie about it" She's gaining some speed and confidence as she thinks about it.

"Has anyone called the police yet?" Mr. Stanford walks around the same corner as Rose did. "Miss Rose expressed some concern about a fight breaking out in the halls… we should also call an ambulance for Miss. Vivian as well" he spots me on the floor but my eyes are all for tail poking out behind him as he walks towards me.

"Done Mr. Stanford" Deacon is back to being himself but now I can't shake the image of him being Donny from my head.

It's a whirlwind of activity and I keep seeing these ghostly after images of tmnt characters around people. Finally the medics arrive and all I can think to say is my face and brain hurts. They cart me off and call my adoptive family. Both will meet me at the hospital shortly. I get escorted into a room, answers some questions and a scan of my brain before they clean and wrap my head up. Apparently I was bleeding from a head wound. April and Casey fly into my room but it's Amanda that gets into my face and freaks out over the head wrapping, it's Curt that screaming into a phone about a lawyer. I am so confused right now. I am allowed to leave but must wake up every hour for the next three days at night and to avoid naps for a week. Then on Monday I am to come back for a secondary scan to make sure my brains weren't scrambled. Next the police come to interview me. Apparently Deacon showed them the video he had, it was up to me if I wanted to press charges on Ricky and Bryon or not for assault. I think at first that will only make things worse at school but with the look on Curt's face I decide too, someone needs to teach them a thing or two. So a statement is taken and a number is given to call if I have any questions or concerns about this.

Finally back at home I rest my poor abused head on a pillow and send a text message off to Maya. I get nothing but am not surprised, it's nearly 11 o'clock at night. Isolda and Rachel will be asleep by now too, still I let them know what's going on before asking a question to the forums about ghostly after images after your brains goes for a ride. I'll check it in the morning.

(Friday)

" _Behind you Venus" I twist without thinking pulling my blade up to meet a downward slash attack. "Mikey go high and cover Donny" I spot a hole in our defense while Leo takes out another foot trying to get to the cornered Raph and an out cold with a broken leg Mona Lisa._

I wake up swinging but end the motion wiping sweat off my face. That wasn't so scary. Is it a bad sign that my dreams aren't bothering me as much? Dear lord why am I up at 6am? I feel wide awake too. My alarm goes off and shortly after that I get a text message from Maya asking if I'm awake as per doctors orders or if she needs to come wake my ass up. I let her know I'm in the land of the living still and power up my computer. There's a few responses but nothing to helpful. They mostly think it means tmnt was on my mind at the time and since the brain does funny things without injury they think nothing of it and have never heard of anyone else suffering the same thing. So I say thanks and write it off as brain trauma weirdness. Then I lay back down for a nap before school.

Back at school Roland is waiting for me at my locker. One look at my bruised face has him seeing red when he finds out what happened. He was sick yesterday and somehow feels guilty that he wasn't here to keep me safe.

"I like you" Maya tilts her head as Roland sputters at this. "Break up with Bitch face then come find me after school ok"

"She's a good crazy deterrent" He's still a little lost with her bluntness but seems to be rolling with it fairly well.

"I'll be a better one. I also won't flirt with other boys behind your back or freak out when you talk to other girls. Think you can handle me?" she lets a hip slide to one side and I can see the gears turning in his head.

"Question is can you handle me. Saturday night, Myles place after the game."

"Oh it's on boy. Cyaa around cupcake" she waves off walking down the hallway to her classroom.

"You have no idea what your getting yourself into do you?"

"Nope, that's why we need to talk. About the other day, Lenny…"

"Its ok, Myles already told me what happened, is he going to be ok?" I still haven't heard anything from him.

"Yaa doctors let him out yesterday morning, said if he rested up and took it easy he could play in the game on Saturday but reduced his playing time to less then quarter of his normal amount"

"He won't be happy about that"

"He's not impressed but happy everyone got out ok with nothing more than minor cuts and bruising, he's gonna flip when he sees your face" Roland takes a seat beside me. "He also wants to make it up to you and hopes you'll agree to the after party Saturday night and maybe a movie after?"

"Are you asking me out for him?" I'm not sure what to think.

"No, letting you know before Lunch that he plans on asking you out again. Just wondering if I need to collect the pieces up after a no or not" he eye balls me. How awkward.

"Depends, will I need to pick up any broken pieces after your date Saturday?"

"Nothing caused by me" I think it's the best I'll get from him.

"Then you don't need to worry about Lenny, I understand what happened and I'm just glad everyone is ok, he's back at school today then?" he sighs at this.

"Good, he's new to the dating game so be gentle ok. He's back to school and limping around playing it up so he looks that much better when he does something crazy and it works out somehow at the game." He shakes his head at this before muttering under his breath "Stupid fearless leader" my head snaps back around to look at him oddly.

"What did you call him?"

"I called him stupid idiot boy why?"

"Oh, never mind I heard something else"

The bell goes off as Mr. Sheppard walks into the classroom looking haggard. He declares a study period and sends us all to the library.

Third period I get a lecture from Mr. Stanford about self defense and the whole class has to practice a set of moves depending on what area is being targeted. I get a few angry glares until they see my face and suddenly it spreads across the school like wild fire that I was attacked on school grounds. I am not at all surprised to see the student council barge into the gym meer seconds after the bell rings. They must have been allowed out early to investigate the claims. I'm a little worried and am not the only one to back away from a spitting mad Lenny who can't form full complement words let alone a sentence. Roland oddly enough gets him to calm down enough to be functional again. Rachel fly's through the doors and has to bit her lip seeing all the supper pretty colors blossoming across my face finally. I didn't look this bad last night or even this morning when I woke up.

"Oh hunny!" Rachel barley gets the words out before choking back a sob.

"You look like shit" Isolda creeps up from the other side as Maya storms in from the other gym. I'm a little shocked when the rest of the squad shows up and shows concerned. Rachel does run a tight close knit ship after all. I spot Lenny waiting for his chance to talk to me so I excuse myself for a moment and feel most of the gym watching us.

"Sorry about my temper. I get a little crazy about certain stuff and a lady being hit is a sore spot for me. How are you feeling? Does it hurt at all?" he fidgets for a moment clearly wanting to assist the damage himself to make sure I really am ok.

"Its ok, everyone has something that sends them over the edge. Thank you for your concern. I went to the hospital and was taken care of, I'm still following the instructions I was given but yes it does still hurt. My brain went for a ride and didn't approve of it after." I try to joke but even I don't think it's funny. He takes pity and chuckles at it for me.

"Then may I suggest never taking that ride again" he tips me face up that I didn't realize I had dipped down in the first place. "Did you need anything at all? Tylenol , water? A dark room to rest in?" I blink at this causing him to rush through the next piece. "Head trauma can hurt more in bright lights, doctors often suggest dark room rest to keep the brain happy" he takes his hand away. "The student council room has a student recovery area where we can dim the lights, comes with a lot of ice packs for you and everything"

"Another perk?" I offer up.

"Something like that" he flashes his eyes sideways and looks nervous suddenly. My heart rate tripled times it on me. "Umm, look I know Myles and Roland already talked to you but I still wanted to come say sorry about the other night, I was really looking forwards to that" he debates with himself for a scant moment before half blurring out and wincing after. "Will you give me a second chance and go with me to Myles party after the game Saturday?" he looks adorable so I throw Maya's advice out to door and answer him right away instead of making him sweat for a moment.

"I heard about the dojo so I'm not mad, I was worried for you when Myles said you were in hospital" I rush through myself. "And I would be happy to go to the after party with you"

"Cool" he looks a little lighter on his feet. "Maybe we can hit up a movie after if your feelings up to it" he pushes his luck and inner me swoons at this.

"Yaa, that sounds good to me" I have a date. A real bonified date for Saturday and I can't keep the grin off my face

"Awesome. You have my number in your phone already, I'm getting a new one after school today so if you send me a text message I can call you after I get it and we can figure out what to go see" he looks as happy as I feel.

"Sure, sounds like a plan" I bit my lip trying not to do anything embarrassing besides fidget with everything but I have no idea what to do next. Friends to the rescue! I spot Roland walking up from behind and watch Lenny spot someone from behind me. I see an arm that can only belong to Maya.

"Sounds perfect, time for cheer practice" she turns me around and I noticed everyone is watching me with eyes wide open and holding their breath. I have a feeling cheer practice won't be so productive. "Cyaa tomorrow night" Maya winks at Roland and Lenny doesn't get three steps before asking what that meant. "Soooo?" Maya gets the ball rolling.

"He asked me out and I said yes" the girls bubble up and freak out on this, I can't help but look back to see Lenny getting a few pats on his back while he's looking back at me. I also have the feeling that the high school grape vine is going to be hard at work for the rest of the day.

I'm flying so high nothing brings me down. I can't stop grinning and giggling at myself even when I get glares from a few some unhappy females. At the end of the day Isolda takes me out to get a new outfit after school and at supper time Curt thinks I'm smoking drugs and Amanda can't get a coherent thought out of me I've been crushing on this man for years now, to finally have his attention is amazing.

Then I crash and burn and freak out. This only proves that I'm on drugs to Curt and Amanda finally realizes what's going on.

"Boys are stupid simple sweetie, just breath and be yourself. He'll like you just the way you are I promise"

"Boy?" Curt snaps back to attention. "What boy?"

"Lenny" I giggle at Curt making him want to gag. "He's the present of the student council, Captain of the basketball team. He's also in the honor class"

"What else he got on that resume of his?" Curt squares off with me.

"Him and his friends got me out of trouble on Monday, convinced me to sign up for cheerleading because it would look good on my resume. Then have been walking me to and from class all week to make sure this didn't happen, Roland feels terrible that he was sick the other day when it did happen and Lenny was at the hospital because his parents dojo was attacked and set on fire. That's why he didn't show up for our first date but he asked me out to the party Saturday after the game but he suffered from some smoke inhalation and has to take it easy" I sigh again, here I'm free to be as big a dork as I want to be, Amanda won't let anyone bug me here.

"First date?" opps, let that slip. "Why was he just standing around while the place went up in flames?"

"Oh that was the other day when I came home to get changed before heading to the mall with the squad for more shopping. He had a reservation at the little Chinese palace for the two of us. He wasn't standing around, he was helping his parents and other instructors getting the students out of the building" I get a look from Amanda but get diverted from asking what to why not?.

"Well too bad until I meet him there won't be an after party to go to"

"Aaaaahhhh! CURT! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!" I wail out pulling my biggest puppy eyes out. "I already said yes! Amanda make him let me go!" I let the tears fall and feel my life shattering around me into unrecognizable mush.

"Curt dear be reasonable, she's almost 18 anyway and this boy has helped her before and sounds like a good kid, it's one after party just a few blocks away from here, we can always drop in" Amanda gives me an idea and I latch on to it like a drowning woman set adrift.

"Myles said that anyone that came out to cheer us on was welcomed to the after party, just come watch the game, you can meet him and cheer me on at my first game as a cheerleader!" dangerous hope blossoms in me.

"Hmmmm…" he can sense the trap but finally relents. "Fine but if I don't like him no after party"

"EEEEEEEEKKK!" I girly scream in his ear throwing myself at him. "Thankyou thankyou thankyou" I squeeze for extra effect and bounce up the stairs. "I'm going to finish my homework tonight and go to bed after ok, have a good night, love you guys!"

"She's twisted, sicking you on me like that" Curt grumbles out getting up to do the dishes for the night.

I hit my bed and freak out asking for help from my girls.

-How do I make Curt like Lenny? –

Rachel answers first. -Why what's up?-

-Curt said if he didn't like Lenny I wasn't allowed to go to the after party-

-Sick Amanda on him- aaah Rachel you read my mind some day's.

-Already did, he agreed to come to the game tomorrow to meet Lenny, so long as that goes over well I'm good to go-

-Alright, let me work my magic, I'll make it perfect so he loves Lenny and trust him with his life when I'm done. Xoxo's luv ya-

Isolda answers next. -What happened now?-

-Rachel is working the problem for me-

-Oh dear, I'll be right back-

-You left Rachel in charge of this mission?- Maya texts me a moment later

From there it turns into a cluster fuck of back and forth text messages for three hours, they have a plan of attack and Myles is in on it. I am not sure if that's good or bad yet. I send of a text to Lenny and wait for his phone call. It only takes an hour and we agree on the first movie he suggests, I think I surprised him with an action movie. It looks good and I'm really not a lovey dovey kind of person. After a short conversation we say goodnight. After I struggle through my single homework assignment for the weekend and pass out well after midnight.

(Saturday)

 _We jump, run, Dodge and kick our way to freedom at last. We have too many injured and not enough hands to help everyone. Mikey still has a passed out Renet in his arms but takes point while helping April help Leo along with a sword sticking out of his side, Raph carries Mona Lisa in his arms, blood dripping off her foot. Donnie's bleeding and hobbling along while a very dizzy from a head wound Casey covers our retreat. Master splinter already has the med room prepped for us, we need stitches at the very least. Lisa needs bones reset, Leo needs to have that sword removed, carefully, all in all I think we got lucky this time._

 _Out of the corner of my eye I spot trouble, I don't think about it, I don't hesitate, I just slip around and use my body to block the killing blow meant for Leo. My world goes black and the last thing I hear is his heart breaking scream of terror. His voice flutters into my brain –"Don't die, please you can't leave me, I never realized how empty was world was until you showed up, please Venus de milo I love you"-_

I jolt awake again crying. What was that? Is my mind trying to scare the ever loving shit out of me or something? I'm shaking when I get up out of bed. I try to do some calming breathing exercises but they don't really help. I try to shake it off but that doesn't work either. I head downstairs and eat breakfast fast. Then back up to shower and get dressed for the day. I take a look at my green dress and hope it's not to much … or too little, now that I think about it that's a lot of cleavage I got going on. I call Isolda in a panic.

"Am I going to look like a whore in this dress"

"Whaaa?" she sounds like the living dead. "What are you taking about? It's 9 am on a Saturday you heathen, why are you waking me up at this god forsaken hour on a weekend?"

"I had the scariest dream last night and now I can't get back to sleep. That green dress Rachel helped me pick out, are you sure I don't look like a cheap whore in it? I don't want to look sleazy"

"No you don't look like a cheap whore now let me go back to bed"

"Like are you sure your sure? Can you take one more look at the pictures for me?" I hear her sigh and a few buttons being pushed, after a slightest of nano seconds she's back on.

"Yes I'm sure I'm sure that don't look like a cheap whore, plllllllease let me go back to bed now"

"Oh I don't know anymore that's a lot of cleavage to be showing off on a first date…"

"Vivian!" she shouts in my ear. "You don't look like a cheap whore." I sigh in relief at this. "Yours clearly a high priced call girl, now leave me be" I gasp at this as the line goes dead. I wonder what's eating her this morning, she's normally so easy going even in the mornings before her coffee. Hmmmmm.

"Maya…"She responds with a growling warning.

"If no one's dying then this can wait till noon"

"No ones dying I'll try back…" she hangs up on me too. Mental note don't disturb the beast before noon ever again, it may cost me my life. I have one last chance.

"Rachel" I'm not sure if she's even concise on her end or just going threw the motions of answering her phone. "I'm having doubts about the dress!" there it's out there, I can never take it back now.

"Vivian, remember when you first came out of that dressing room? Your eyes where shinning in delight, you loved that dress, you still love that dress. Your just freakin out over tonight, tell you what after I finish getting my beauty sleep we can go hit up the mall or a movie to help take your minds off things. I'll wake Isolda up but you get Maya"

"Why do I get her?"

"Because you woke me before noon" she hangs up on me and I'm left alone with my thoughts again.

Rachel thinks I just need to take my mind off things, maybe a peruse through the fan site will help, maybe I'll find another author to fallow or a great one shot. Might as well try it. Scanning through the first few pages shows nothing new that looks interesting to me. So I test my luck and hit the last page option. Maybe something from a few years ago will sound interesting? I find a little jem on the very last page and saved it. Someone wrote a poem about the boys. It was cute and a well done haiku, two pages later I find someone had re-written songs from different points of views. It was cheeky, but I opt to not read all 50 plus songs right now. I'll save some for a rainy day. I run across a large selection of romance pieces and skip 5 pages. One grabs my eye oddly and I click on it. Not because I really like most of the romance stuff but because it's by my favorite author. BattleWisdom wrote a romance piece? Hmmm… I click the link and get sucked in. It doesn't read like a normal romance. You know the kind, where girl falls into boys arms, girls life is in jeopardy, boy saves girl, boy falls in love and they live happily ever after. Those move too fast, sometimes taking place over a few hours and they always seem so fake to me. Sure love can happen like that but it's rare. No this one is different, the boy sees her, the boy likes her but he doesn't know how to show or tell her or really the full extent of what he's feeling. It's an odd perspective to see through. The girls make it sound like the guys know what their doing, all smooth and easy going, he's painting a very different picture here. One of confusion and worries about messing up. Of fears she won't care back or will reject him. His main character is Leo, who doesn't know how to proceed, all his training is on fighting, not being a lover. He stumbles, he makes mistakes, he gets angry, he makes her angry. He gets everyone angry at and with him. Then finally he gets the courage to just ask the girl out and she says yes! It took months of close calls and almost to finally happen. My heart falls. He left it on a cliff hanger! She's injured, in a como and they never got to go on their date!

"NNNNOOOOOOOO!" I wail at my screen. There is no next chapter! He hasn't update this story in almost two years! He's never left a story unfinished before! I need to know what happens! Is it true love? Do they find their happily ever after? For the first time ever I scramble to write a review.

To: BattleWisdom

From: TheOtherSide

I need to know how it ends, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Time sent: 8:45 am Saturday

Message status: received

I stare at my screen, how long will it take for him to answer? Will he answer? My phone goes off, it's Maya calling me.

"Hey, get dressed, I'm coming to get you. Isolda says Rachel said that you were freaking out this morning and that we need to distract you. You got five minutes"

"I'm already dressed and ready to go. I'll meet you downstairs, just park in front I'll come out to you" I power down my computer and sit in the big bay window waiting for her.

Sigh, back to the mall we go. And it's not just my girls, half the cheerleading squad showed up to help take my mind off things. They half drag me around to almost all of really nice clothing stores and make me try on other dresses. When I rejected them all Rachel wipes her hand clean of the mess. Declaring the green dress still the raining champ and what I will be wearing tonight at the after party. She shares the picture of me in it and the girls all ogle me. So not understanding my issue with it. Some think I should improve the bounty I'm offering up with a plus 2 sizes push up bra. I rejected that post hast. My girls are big enough as it is, either he likes me the way I am or he can go somewhere else. Another girl suggest a tummy control slip, another points out that he'll know if he has any luck taking the dress off me tonight. I'm horrified by the thought and put them in their place. I'm not altering how my body looks and he can just wait until I'm ready for that. I get applauded for my courage as Maya points out that, that is not Lenny's style to jump and run, it'll be a glorious conquest story one day, but I'll make him work for it. Red to my soul from embarrassment I half yell at her in anger. I don't scare her. Besides it's almost time for the game. We rush back home, change and fly to the game just in time. Curt and Amanda wave at me from the stands as I stand there in my borrowed uniform, it's a little big but it'll work for now, I'll have my very own in another 4 days and before the next game. I feel nervous looking out at the crowd and feel my knees turn into putty on me.

"You'll be fine, just pretend no one's there" Lenny whispers into my ear wrapping me up in a hug from behind. "Who were you waving too?"

"My adoptive family. There here to meet you" he goes stiff and slowly release me.

"Really?" he doesn't look so good anymore.

"Are you going to be ok? I hope that isn't a problem, Curt won't let me go to the after party if he doesn't approve it first, I'm sorry I should have said something sooner…"

"Its cool, I just don't know how that conversation will go over, having never meet the parents before" he shuffles for a bit.

"Curt will try to drive you crazy or admit you're darkest secret to him, he's a bit of a hard ass but a good guy once you know him. Amanda will want to know about your life goals but she's laid back and easy to get along with, she'll be easy to win over, get her on your side and she'll bend Curt's fingers in your favor" He sighs at this.

"Oh no man! Mama bears be sweet to their little angles but will rip you in half without warning if they think you ain't no good. Daddy's may point the gun at your head but it's the mamas you gotta be worried about" A boy on the team gives his two cents and next thing you know Lenny's sweating buckets and looks ready to bolt for the doors in terror.

"Just relax and be yourself, sell your finer points like you would at an interview and you'll be fine" another boy try's to cheer him up.

"I've never had an interview before, I've always worked at the dojo" he looks ill again.

"Ok dude, this way we got you covered captain, gathering round!" the assistance captain calls for a huddle and even though there only a few steps behind us I can't hear what there talking about. Rachel ruffles her pom poms trying to get our attention. We each signal that were ready and the first song comes one. It's an easy little cheer with very little in the way of body movement so we get through it easily enough. The ball drops, the game is on and Lenny is not focusing right. Oh dear. We scream and cheer them all on but I keep trying to grab his attention to tell him everything's going to be ok. He just needs to relax a little bit.

It takes a few close calls but he finds his groove. He scores 5 points before he signals he needs off, his chest and lungs must be bothering him. He's off on the side line for a long time before getting back out for a bit. At half time I'm pulled up and away from him to do another simple routine, the same one as the try outs. We nail it and look like a real squad as the crowd goes wild for us. It boost moral for us, dampen there's , I'd call it a win win. The other squad doesn't look as well put together as us and I swell a bit with pride. Lenny's back on, then off for another long rest shortly after he gets back on the other team has realized he's injured and do their best to take him out. Someone hits him in the back with a ball, another try's to trip him, he has three blocking him at another point. After some outcry something finally gets called and the other team gets a penalty for it. After they back off him. He kept his head up and kept his team mates from retaliating at all. I spot Curt's nod of approval at his actions. This is great, if he keeps this up he'll win Curt over without having to say a word to him. I can almost hear the sounds of a house party in my ear. I've never been to one before, I'm finally getting excited for it.

It's close but we take the win 21 to 16. I can't help it, I'm screaming and jumping up with the other girls. Can this day get any better?

I'm a ball of nervous energy when Lenny walks up to us. Curt is trying to stare a hole through his chest, Amanda smiles sweetly but I just get the image of a bangle tiger ready to pounce from her. I think he's buddies maybe right, Curt maybe holding the gun but I suspect that it'll be Amanda that pulls the trigger.

"Good evening" Lenny starts first

"Hey" I meekly greet out. "So this is Curt and this is Amanda, they adopted me four years ago after my parents died in a car crash" I'm not sure where else to start.

"I knew her father and felt she would be better off with someone she knew" Curt hops on board faster while Amanda eagle eyes everything going on. I bet she could tell you who was standing where right this second in a police report and be scary accurate.

"Its 50/50 odds in the system. I got lucky I guess" he smiles but I'm shocked, I never knew.

"Your adopted too?" Amanda finally says something.

"My parents left me on a doorstep one night, Mr. Stanford and his wife took me in." I'm shocked, another thing I didn't know.

"Is Mr. Stanford ok? I haven't seen him in gym class all week" I get nervous for a different reason.

"Mom and dad are fine, just busy rebuilding the dojo" he smiles at me making my checks flush suddenly.

"Oh! The Saffron Hope Dojo?" Amanda speaks up again

"Mhmm, that's the one" Lenny nods at her

"I heard it was another dojo that was found responsible for the attack, OH! You're the young instructor that was hospitalized after going back into the burning building to rescue a trapped student" She gasped

"My official title is fuku shidoin" At the blank stares he smiles slightly at me. "It means I am the assistant teacher, it is an honorific title to designate that I am an inexperienced instructor within the organization. I am not a teacher, but I'm not really a regular student either. It means I'm working my way through the ranks and can one day be the master of the dojo if I so choose." Oh hey look I learned something new today after all. "Little Max, he was in the bathroom when it happened and didn't hear the alarm going off. When we realized he wasn't with his class I ran back in to get him, I figured he had gotten lazy and used the excuse to go rest his legs for a little bit." Lenny doesn't seem fazed by this at all.

"You could have died" Curt takes a moment to really look at Lenny, you can see the gears in motion.

"Yes, but Max would have had I not tried, it was worth the risk" Lenny's conviction on that is evident.

"You going to be a firefighter when you grow up?" Curt eye balls Lenny, this maybe a make or break questions.

"The thought had occurred to me" his head tilts to the side in thought " But, after running threw the blazing fire barley able to see or breath, having such a hard time finding the bathrooms in a place I know better then the back of my hand" he holds it up like it's a foreign object. "I realized it's not the life for me, I want a family of my own one day and seeing my parents terrified faces when I finally came back, like they thought they had lost me, just no, I couldn't do that to my wife or kids every time I went to work. Leaving them worried sick if they were going to ever see me again. No I think I will keep helping the way I am now."

"Oh yaa? How you helping out now? What kind of long term financial plans do you got husband to be?" Curt tosses that curve ball and Lenny goes a little red in the face, maybe he let too much slip.

"In another 15 years I can be a full fledged teacher at the dojo, probably take it over and let my parents retire around my late 40's as a master like my father did from his father" That's an impressive history for a family dojo in this city. "I help unfocused kids stay on track. I help the angry ones find productive, helpful ways to channel their extra energy. I show the timid how to be more confident. I help them all be the best them possible all while showing them how to keep themselves safe in everyday life" He nods once at this. "Its not a glamorous, extravagant or a particularly flashy life. It's more humble and low key and that's the way I like it. I don't need the extras when I got everything I need back at home" Amanda is swooning at this, Curt's not so sure yet.

"And what if she wants more then just humble? What if she desires more?" I'm not sure if I should feel insulted or not with that. Thanks Curt for assuming I'm a gold digger.

"Then I'll just work harder and save more" I'm blown away by the answer.

"Or maybe she can work harder to pay for her share" I throw that idea out there.

"Two incomes are always better then one" it's not really an answer but I get where he's coming from. "If she brings in more and wishes to have more then it's her money to do with as she pleases"

"What if she doesn't want to work in a dojo?" I throw out next.

"What one does with their life is up to them, pursing the family business is my dream, if she'll support me then I'll support whatever her dream is" He smiles at me again like he's forgotten about everyone else around us

"Smooth" Curt nods once and I can't breath, does that mean they made up their minds? "Ok Casanova, she's home by 10…"

"Aaaa! Amanda!" I pull out the crock tears and best "why did you kick my puppy" face ever, the movie starts at 9 and he already got the tickets!

"Midnight will he fine" Amanda hates crock tears and caves fast with them. "According to a few others the party doesn't start till 9 anyway, give her a few hours to have some fun, in another few months she'll be mostly free to do as she pleases anyway. Just gotta face it, she's not a surly 14 year old anymore that doesn't want to interact with other people, she's growing up so big" Amanda reaches for my face, I swear if she pinches my cheeks I'll go postal on them. To my great relief she just pats my cheek once. "Have fun tonight dear, were going to a movie so will see you at home later ok"

"We are?" Curt looks confused as she pulls him along. "Call if you need anything" He takes her arm more firmly as they walk away I get a piece of their conversation I never wanted to. "You know boys at that age…"

"You mean how boys always are regardless of age?" she retorts. "She's a smart kid, have a little faith in her" at least Amanda doesn't think I'm that easy…

"So yaa that was interesting" I swing on tip toes for a moment. Awkward.

"Yaa, I need to thank the guys for all the advice I didn't use. But I'm glad it worked out in the end, so what do you want to do when this is all over in a few more months?"

"For a job? I don't really know, I never gave it much thought, I was mainly focused on surviving high school" he chuckles with me.

"Fair point. Maybe I can help you pick something out? The average person switches careers 3 to 5 times in their life, so nothing says you have to stick to what you first pick"

"That sounds kinda boring" I try to joke.

"Yaa a little but I can't imagine it's any worse then sitting around doing nothing for months on end with no money for anything"

"fair point, how about we worry about that after tonight, I need to go get changed for the party"

"Do you need a ride?" he offers up fast.

"Aa, no that's ok, Maya and the others are picking me up, something about making sure I did something with my hair" I point to the pony tail mess on top of my head.

"And what's wrong with a pony tail?"

"That's what I said!"

"I think it looks just fine, it's also safer if it's pulled away from your face. You can see what's going on around you better, less of a target at night that way" I start laughing at this.

"Well I guess there's that, but to be honest I just don't want to deal with the curl anymore after five minutes" he laughs some more with me this time.

"I'm really glad we finally got to meet. My life has been fare more interesting with you around"

"Oh I don't know about that" I don't see how his life could ever be boring. "You could have had your pick of girls, plenty would have spiced up any empty spots in your social life"

"Social stuff like hanging out at the mall isn't really my thing. I like curling up with a good book and a fresh full pot of calming Jasmine tea. I keep thinking about writing a book one day" oh he's a god sent angle! A man that likes to read!

"You've though about writing a book? About what?" I feel like I'm starving for more details about him.

"Ok you two" Maya tugs at my uniform. "Walk and talk, I need food and I need it now. You got all night to get to know each other better, I may expire soon"

"Food? I like food" Roland appears beside Lenny making him jump. "What? Where are you going? Men need real food not that salad bar crap"

Maya rolls her eyes up hip swaying out to the side "Please" Maya wiggles her fingers at him. "I'm a steak and potatoes kinda girl"

"Yes!" Roland intertwines their fingers while he pushes Myles into Rachel.

"Aaaa…." Lenny points at them.

"Oh you missed it, Maya told Roland to break up with crazy because she wanted to date him"

"… ok" He takes it all in stride as we let Isolda and Deacon take lead, already deep into a conversation about some kind of interstellar travel theory.

"Hey Vivian" Isolda turns to me. "Deacon…"

"Oh no!" I push the thought away. "leave me out of that, meet you guys at the bugger joint down the street?" I beg Maya to say yes with my eyes.

"Sure" Roland agrees for her, she oddly lets him. He tosses a set of keys at Lenny. "Not a scratch buddie" Roland drops Maya's hand in favor of tossing his arm around her shoulder to pull her in closer.

"I gotta go set up the house, so I'll see you guys around 7 right?" Myles dodges around a straggler still hanging out in the gym.

"I'm not a burger girl, if I help you set up can we pick up pizza along the way?" Rachel inquiries.

"Pizza?" Myles ears perk up at this. "Baby doll you had my heart from the word go, after we can toss some confetti around and call it good enough" Myles swaggers over giving her a light hip bump. "Cars this way dudet" Rachel lets out a very girly giggle at this and lets him take lead.

"Vivian" Isolda sighs at me. "Burger joint, really? That's so bad for you"

"Your not worried about those two?" I nod towards the retreating backs of Rachel and Myles.

"There smart enough to stay out of the kind of trouble I am worried about in regards to hormonal teenagers. What's wrong with the salad bar?"

"After my first cheerleading thing I need some comfort food. Go with Deacon and tell me all about the argument later" I nod to the last man standing alone and waiting for her.

"Its not an argument." He corrects me. "An argument is had when one wishes to prove themselves right, we are having a lively discussion were we are trying to find out what is the most likely correct answer to our theoretical topic"

Lenny and me both give him a blank stare at this.

"It's a friendly debate to find the answer" If I didn't know her, I wouldn't have realized that she's swooning on the inside. She has it bad.

"Ok, why don't you two hit up the salad bar and go run interference with the glitter bombs at Myles place before everyone is left looking like a disco ball again" Lenny offers up

"That is an excellent idea" Deacon pulls such a duck face at this. "I still haven't gotten all of the sparkles out of that shirt" And like so there both off in the opposite direction of us.

"To the burger joint then?" I wave us on. I'm suddenly starving.

After food and some… lets call it interesting conversation Lenny drives me home. He waits downstairs while I shower at hyper speed and get dressed, I pull my hair up into its standard pony tail but wonder if maybe I should do something extra with it. Since I share a bathroom with Amanda I open up a cupboard on her side and find a scary amount of hair products crammed inside. I think she's defying the laws of physics somehow because every time I pull a spray can out two seem to take its place. Finally! A simple mousse to help give the curls some bounce should do the trick. I comb all the way through and scrunch the ends up and turn some heat on to help the drying process. I'm up here for about a half hour, longer then I wanted to take but I moved as fast as I could.

Turns out Lenny thought I would take longer. He's laying down on the couch with his phone in his face, the tattle tale music of a crappy time waster game playing in the back round.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to take so long" He jumps up and stares at me. "I'm over dressed aren't I?" I grip the edge of the summer short flared green dress, simply black ballet flats should keep my feet from hurting for any extended walking I may have to do.

"Not at all. You look amazing, green really suits you" He offers me an arm. " You didn't take long, I'll be a few minutes at home then we can see how much trouble everyone got into"

"Ok"

He took almost as long as me, now were late but fashionable so. He went cargo shorts and button down top but left it undone with a men's version of a white tank top underneath. Must keep eyes facing forwards and looking up. His eyes are up, his gorgeous blue eyes are up. Ogle tanned muscles goodness from across the room where it's harder to tell what I'm looking at. That's my new mantra for the night. Were greeted at the door by a smiling Rachel and cheering Myles. Looks like a good chunk of the team showed up too. His shouting only draws more attention to us and suddenly were bombarded with questions.

"Oh your finally official now?" I don't even know this chick but she seems to know me. "Oh that took him forever to get around to asking you out am I right Vivian? For a moment there I thought you would have to ask him out to show him how it's done!" Lenny beside me looks worried as I feel like bolting back out the door. Who TF is this chick hanging off my side acting like she's known me all her life? "You two have basically been dating for a week now we were all just wondering, how did you do it?"

"Do what?" I finally sense a break in her non stop chatter to squeezed a word in.

"Oh so your naïve that's so adorable" I see Maya cutting a swath through the crowd and know this is about to turn ugly. "So how did you two, you know, do it? That's why your late isn't it"

I blink swearing that I herd her wrong, but as Lenny goes red in the face while Maya looks ready to mane and murder I'm shocked to the core. She thinks we're late because we we're getting it on? Off the hop? Before our first date? How…. Crass of her! "Excuse me!"

"Oh come on, the untouchable Lenny, you've had him eating out of the palm of your hand all week, I mean he got his lackeys to escorted you around the school. Nicely done by the way, really brings your pathetic damsel in distress act full circle" I feel heat rise up my face and a violent urge coming on. "That's how you did it right? Oh wow is me? I need a savior, oh who will be my knight in shinning armor?" Where is she getting these ideas from? "Did you faint at all? Toss yourself on him, does his six pack feel as good as they look?" I was seeing red, now it's gotten dangerously close to black. "So how did you finally get him naked and all hot and bothered?" She's grinning like a fool, thinking that I won't say anything in a room full of people that are mostly staring at me. Lenny won't hit a lady, Maya has been stalled by some groupies of this woman and poor Rachel is going to bust a brain cell her face is so red in anger at it all.

"Well since you really want to know" That does it, the bitch is going down. "We we're late because we both had to shower and get dressed" Maya looks confused, Rachel is still on the verge of popping a brain cell and Lenny has the best poker face going on right now. "After the game my parents insisted on meeting him, then I just couldn't help it anymore" She's foaming at the mouth thinking dirty things, I can see it in her eyes. "So we grabbed a bite to eat with Maya and Roland at the burger joint, I was starving. After he oh so kindly drove me home since Maya ditched me, patently waited downstairs while I showered and got dressed. After I accompanied him to his place and again waited downstairs while he had a shower and got dressed. I can tell not everyone showered after the game, guys, that's gross" A few chuckle at this while I get to see slut-ie Mc-sluterson go 50 shades of red. "Then we came here, parked and walked inside. Nothing happened" She doesn't believe me. "Not one body part touched another without clothing between them. Look you want a good guy, then you got to be a good girl. Not a ho" I de-attach her arm from around me to several laughing it up. "I didn't throw myself at him, I didn't play at anything. I was just me. Kinda plain, a little boring ol' me. If he wanted something plastic then he could have found something at the adult toy store ok" She's fuming now, I will most likely pay for this later on but Maya dying of laughter is worth it, I think she maybe having some trouble breathing she's laughing so hard. "And even if something did happen I'm not about to turn around and blab it in front of everyone, have some class and keep your legs closed for a change, you'd be surprised how many great guys will come around on their own when you don't act like a 2 cent hooker" That last bit may have been over kill, she looks upset but I'm not backing down now. Lenny looks proud of me for not resorting to punching her in her smug caked on make up face. "Excuse me, I'd love to stay and chat but I require a minimum IQ level that you clearly don't have. Plus an interesting topic that is currently lacking at the moment. My real friends are waiting for me" I finally pull away and nod at Lenny to join me as I make my way across the room to a bent over in half Maya that's still learning how to breath again.

Maya wipes at a tear in the corner of her eye. "Oh I wish Isolda could have seen that"

Myles taps me on the shoulder. "Sorry about that. I didn't know she would be here or I'd have warned you. If I could figure out how she keeps finding out about the parties or where she hides when I'm trying to send her home I'd put a stop to it" Myles looks up the stairs and all around us like he looking for someone. "I swear she's spy or something because she just disappears into thin air"

"You announced it to the whole student body at the same time, how could she have not heard about it?" I roll my eyes.

"Well that's the thing, she's not a student from our school but as far as I can tell no one here knows her or how she keeps finding out about my parties!" he sounds so frustrated at this.

"Maybe it's a student that isn't here?" I think about it for a moment. "She could live near by too"

"I am right on the border of two school zones" Myles taps his fingers thinking about it as well. "Oh well if she's still here in another hour then I'll call the cops again."

"Myles" I wonder … "She's from a rival school right?"

"Yaa, why?"

"Well she clearly likes coming to your parties, why don't we befriend her, then see if she can help us?" I offer up, it's a dirty underhanded though, they looked perplexed and I internally freak out thinking I went to far.

"She means as a way to get a sneak peek into the play books, or intel on team secrets and players as a way to get an edge over that one team for the finals" Deacon clears it up for them.

Rachel scratches at her head with a hip jutting out to the side. "Isn't that like cheating?"

"Yaa kinda" Myles agrees with her.

"I think it's a brilliant idea" Isolda leans into Deacons side clutching his arm. She wobbles a bit grinning at me funny. "Sure it's underhanded but I think any intel gathered on a rival team Pryor to the game is put to use, who cares how you got it, just that you did"

"Have you been drinking?" she try's not to giggle at us but it's a dead give away. "Isolda, your not of drinking age yet!" I freak out looking around us, no one seams to care about it or be paying us much attention. "If the cops show up its Myles's parents that will pay the hefty fine" I hiss at her.

"Oh it's fine, I had my two before we got here, I'll sober up in an hour or two" she waves this off.

"How did you even get any in the first place!"

" From me" Deacon shrugs it off. "I didn't realize she was a light weight or I'd have only had one with dinner"

"Your not legal drinking age either!" I hiss at them.

"Chill" Lenny pulls me back a step. "His parents have a restaurant and let him have a drink at supper, moms side of the is family is French so it's just a little wine, she'll be fine in a bit, he knows what he's doing"

I narrow my eyes at Deacon. "Scouts honor, we will stay where everyone can see us at all times, no funny business" he raises his available arm up in surrender. "She was nervous about the party so I thought a drink or two would help her get over it"

"It is her first party" Rachel intercepts my protest at this. "She normally just goes home after the games"

"Yaa now I gotta watch over all three of ya to make sure everyone behaves themselves " Maya finally finds her footing again and stands up straight. She eye balls Myles tugging at Rachel's shirt trying to get her to dance with him, then narrows her eyes at Deacon's arm around Isolda's waist. Finally her eyes settle on Lenny already set into little slits in a silent warning.

"They'll be fine, lets find the dj and get a few good songs in while we still can" Roland rounds a corner and slips his arm around her shoulder again.

"I know where the dj is, but I want a dance out of you tonight" Maya slips her arm around his waist

"A dance?" Roland looks so dejected with the idea

"Yes or I'll make sure you never find the dj" she swings low "But I promise you don't have to do any fancy steps, I just want you out on the floor with me"

"Ok, I can do the white man shuffle for a song" he grumbles out. "Lead the way"

They disappear around another wall before Myles speaks up. "The dj is always in the same spot… Oh, ok never mind I understand what he was doing"

"And just what was he doing?" I narrow my eyes at him.

"Letting Deacon escape into another room" Rachel answers me pointing to the empty spot where Isolda use to stand.

"Come, we can check on everyone in rounds for the night, lets go dance for a bit" Lenny grabs my hand and I forgot everything else.

I didn't know he could dance! Well for a guy he can, I lay out a few sweet moves and groan at Isolda, poor Deacon is trying to keep it pg rated but Isolda seems to have other plans in mind. Whatever she whispers in his ear gets his attention, he swings them out of the room and only Lenny telling me that's the way to the kitchen and a small side bathroom keeps me from running after them. Deacon's a good guy, I don't see him taking advantage of her, I'm more worried about her saying or doing something that will embarrass her come morning. She likes him and booze does funny things to the brain. Maya coming out of the same door lets me relax again, she wouldn't let anything to bad happen. Now where did Rachel and Myles go? Never mind Lenny has my hand again as the song drops the beat and a dj remix starts up. Not really my style but Lenny seems to he jumping around in tune with everyone else so I fallow along.

An hour latter, several rounds around the house and I got a good lay out for the land. Lenny fielded questions like the pro he is. But I need to cool off, so I let him know I'll be right back and dip outside to get some fresh air as he talks to a team mate about something. I take a few steps out and admire the view Myles has here. There's a swing set out back, gazebo, pool, hot tub and what looks like an outdoor home sauna. Lucky guy, he's living the dream. I turn around to go back inside but stop. What was that sound? I take a few steps back out and listen hard, I'm about to give up when I hear it again, so I fallow the sound around to the side of the house. The rose bush looks like it'll bloom a lot in a few more months, there's tons of buds already showing up. There, that sound again… but what is it? It sounds familiar but I can't put my finger on it. It's really dark around here, the lights from the back door is well behind me and the front is no where near here. Nothing from the Windows helps either, there mostly dark on this side of the house.

"Hello?" I call out, the sound stops. "Are you hurt at all?" I try again. My heart rate spikes as the bushes to my right beside the open field like back yard rustle around

Out pops a disheveled, tear stained face of my would be attacker from earlier tonight. "Am I hurt at all?" she gestures to her face and ruined make up. "Why do people ask such stupid questions, or course I'm not ok but what would you know about hurt feelings?"

"More then I want too" I answer. "To be fair you where trying to hurt and embarrass me, I simply won the nasty name calling " I sigh and sit down on the grass.

She glares at me for a while without moving. "I don't get it"

"What's there to get?" I pat the spot beside me, she's clearly not going anywhere, if she wants to duke it put again I guess I can go for round two, thankfully away from everyone else.

"Why you? Why not me? Why not any of the other hordes of females that wanted his attention, that probably should have gotten it, why did he pick you?" … I'm flabbergasted, really? that's what this is all about? Because I got the boy?

"For real?" I half turn to stare at her open mouthed.

"…Yes" she finally takes a seat. "There's smarter girls out there, prettier, more talented, better educated girls, he could have had his pick"

"I ask my myself that too" her head whips around to look at me "Truthful…" She nods once at me. "I have no idea. I just thank my lucky stars that he even knows I'm alive. Maybe I did something spectacular in another life and earned it? A saint maybe?" I get a ruefully smile out of her. "Your right, I'm a little plain and boring compared to what he could have, but maybe there's a charm to me that neither of us see's that he does. He wants to take over his family's dojo and instruction kids. Would you be ok living that humble life?" I'm happy to see her really thinking about it and taking her time.

"No, I want much bigger things in life" She answers honestly. "And I don't want to work if I don't have too. Knowing he doesn't want a career in basketball… he's less Appling to me know. Maybe I'm just being supper shallow, but I want a fancy life with all the best things in it, I want to spend my day in an oversized kitchen cooking goodies for my kids school bake sale or lounging by the pool side after he comes home from work, maybe start my own product line"

"Shoes?" I point to the wicked looking heels she has in her hands.

"Maybe, there my own design, I even made them" she beams a bit about it.

"You are very talented. I also think you would die of boredom if you didn't work. Maybe what you want to do doesn't seem like work, but if someone's willing to pay you for what you do, then I think it still counts as a job" she doesn't seem so bad anymore. "Look, I don't pretend to be anything other then what I am, maybe you should give it a try and see what happens ?"

"Just be me?" she looks at me like I'm crazy. "But boys…."

"Are stupid simple, well that's what Amanda and my mom always said."

"I wish my mom was still around to help out with all this. My dad works all the time, I never see him and his advice is just terrible"

"Wait a sec" I dial Amanda's number from memory. "Hey Amanda I got someone here that could use some mom's advice" I hand the phone over knowing Amanda is always happy to help. I watched the girl take my phone dumbfounded and put it up to her ear. I take a few steps back dusting myself off and wait for the call to be done.

"And that's why I picked you" Lenny gets a startled scream in his ear for his sneaky ways but takes it in stride. "Even after all that your willing to help. I heard that you weren't going to press charges on Ricky and Bryon, what made you change your mind?"

I finally answer the question that many were asking. "My mom always said that if you can stop someone else from getting hurt then you should. Amanda says people deserve second chances until they don't. I didn't really understand either until that moment. Curt was raging about them, demanding to know who else they had hurt and why nothing was done about it until it was too late. Anyway as a list of small time complaints were rattled off I realized that none of those students come to the school anymore. I'm willing to bet that they left to get away from Ricky and Bryon. And had they just spoken up more, did more than maybe, just maybe my incident could have been avoided. Ricky and Bryon had all the second chances they were going to get and I was doing my part to make sure it didn't happen again to anyone else as best as I could" Lenny hugs me from behind.

"I am so glad Deacon and Myles decided to take the long way to their lockers that day" He puts his head on top of mine watching the night sky ahead of us.

"It could have been a lot worse if it wasn't for them, I never did thank them for all the help. You know they remind me of pair of some other people, so much so that in the initial moments after my head connected to the wall I thought they were those other people"

"Oh yaa? Who did you think they were?"

"Oh it's silly…"

"Those are the best moments"

"Really wanna know?" he makes some agreeable noises. "Fine but don't make fun of me and you can never tell them!" I get more grunts at this. "I thought Deacon was Donny and Myles was Mikey"

"Donny and Mikey from tmnt?" he finally lifts his head

"…Yaaa"

"I think they would find it funny but be honored that they remind you of such characters, they like the show too"

"They do?" I spin around to look at him.

"Yaa, the image forum is mostly composed of students from our school"

"It is? How do you know that?"

"Because I run it" I stare at him open mouthed. "They know I want to write books one day and offered to sign up to fallow me so it looks better when I do send off a book idea because then I already have a fan base of my own to prove that people like what I write" I'm drawing a blank on who the creators pen name is, I'll double check it when I get home, then I need to locate his page and see what he can do…. Does this count as stocking him?

"You got any other web pages full of groupies I should know about?" I joke with him

"Ummmm…."

"Yaa he's on snapchat too, goes by the same pen name too" my would be attacker startles us both. "Thanks a lot, Amanda sounds like an amazing person. Names Kelly by the way" we shake hands. "Nice to meet you, I better jet before Myles calls the cops on me again"

"How do you keep finding out about the parties anyway?" I toss the question out there.

"BattleWisdom posts about them. I fallow him and get notified and since I am one of his groupies I kinda tracked down this place in my efforts to meet him"

"OMG! He's here right now?" I freak out on the inside. "He's a student at my school!"

"Oh sweetie…" Kelly pity's me for some reason.

"Who is he?" I demand.

Kelly just pushes a hip out with great dramatic flair before turning around and walking away from us "Your in his arms" she tosses back to me.

I'm not sure if I'm terrified or thrilled about this. Either way I'm stiff backed, rooted in my spot and frozen in time. Small things come back to me.

"Yaaa…. " oh god the p.m I sent this morning. "About that..." OMFG! That first day when he caught me reading his last update! Oh can this get any worse? "I was wondering what is TheOtherSide like anyway?" I groan at this, mental note don't ask questions that you really don't want the answers to. "I was trying to bring it up all week when I put two and two together but couldn't figure out how to without sounding creep or weird at all" He lets me pull away from him first. I feel like crying for some reason "Hey its not everyday that you get to meet a genuine fan of your work without knowing who there rooting for first, and it's so sweet the way you defend Myles on the forums last Sunday when Ricky and Bryon found them" oh this just keeps getting better and better. "Roland likes that you stepped up and your colorful selection of words too boot"

"Oh I'll never be able to look them in the eyes again" I bend over in half feeling the burning fires of hell spread across my face.

"I didn't need to ask them to keep an eye on you, they were simply returning the favor that your long standing account generate from other people online. It's impressive that you stuck with the show for so long" oh I have romance pieces up on that account! Thank gods I have a second one that the really embarrassing stuff goes under. "Hope that doesn't seem creepy at all, that I back tracked you online like that"

"Not really, I was just thinking about doing the same to see what your written style was like, but I don't need to do that anymore" I stand up straight, lets get the teasing over with.

"Thanks" I'm shocked at first. "Not many stand up for others like that, it was the lease we could do after you basically had them booted from the webpage in general" He holds his hand out. "I was thinking about getting a fellow writers option on a new story idea. Roland's advice only goes so far, Myles means well but… well it's Myles and Deacon really has selected knowledge about certain things and is completely useless in other areas" did he… did he just ask for my help, to collaborate with him? On a story?

"A good beta tester is always helpful to have too" I offer up

"Yaa but good ones are hard to find, TheOtherSide does some amazing work according to the others so I figured I'd ask her? A girls option would be great"

"Oh yaa, in what way?"

"Well I got a this idea for a post apocalypse world tmnt finds themselves in and they find some other mutants and their basically just trying to survive. I got lots of technical advice from Deacon but female pov's are hard to write when you aren't one or have much experience with them" he scratches the back of his head, I think his next story has a romantic theme in it. "So do you think she'll help me?"

"I think one should ask with absolute clarity about what exactly they are expecting from their beta readers"

"Well I was once told that men don't do romance so well, and there will definitely be some of that going on in this new story so I was hoping maybe she could help get the female parts down for me?" he try's again.

"I think she would be happy to give you some insight into the female pov's" I can't stop the grin that forms to answer his smile.

"Excellent, it's almost movie time we should get going soon" he looks down at the watch beeping at him. " did you want to stop for a healthy snack before hand?"

"Naa, lets grab some popcorn while we're there" I bit my lip while he loops his arm around me.

Back inside we run across Roland first, he promises to pass the world along that were heading to the movie now. We wave goodbye to Rachel and Isolda who appears to be dealing with a pre hang over headache. Myles is snorting he's laughing so hard at the bitch fest Deacon is enduring right now from several woman at once about taking better care of his dates. The walk back to his car is quite but nice. The mindless chit chatting is pleasant for the car ride with the music playing softly in the back round. I'm nervous at the theater as he grabs the snacks, I almost fumble my drink and have started to chew a hole in my bottom lip, right corner.

"Where to sit?" he asks me. A million answers fly through my brain. Rachel said to pick a visible spot least I give him the wrong idea, but where is a good spot? Isolda said in the middle, Maya said off to a side towards the back but not the last row. Amanda says the front rows. AAAAAAA!

"What's wrong with the back row?" I mumble out loud.

"Nothing wrong with it, people can't kick the back of my seat then"

"Straight up so no one can lean back and squash my legs!" I nod in agreement

"Then back row it is" He leads the way and Maya's warning about boys and middle of the back row seats were no one can see you very well ring in my ears. Then again were not in the middle of the row, we can clearly be seen from many places and this is Lenny were talking about, I'll be fine. I fallow him up and take the seat to his left, for whatever reason I don't want to get in the way of his right arm. He doesn't think anything of it and I sigh to myself. I resist the urge to lean into him, this is an action movie not a romantic comedy so cuddling may not be a thing. I lean slightly into him, he leans slightly into me, my heart rate spikes again. Don't people kiss after a date? Oh god I haven't brushed my teeth in a few hours now, do I have any gum on me? I do a mental check list but don't recall putting gum in my purse. Crap. Crap. Crap! Ok just chill, he may not do that at the end, Lenny seems more of a few dates kind of guy before trying to make a move. Odds are in my favor that I don't even need to worry about it tonight.

"So" he pauses to make sure I'm paying attention. "Any predictions for the movie?"

"Hmmm…." I stop thinking about the potential problem to think on this.

"Did you see any of the previews for it?"

"Yaa I saw one, I think it'll have at least one gruesome scene, two max. Plenty of the protagonist messing up and his instructor having to bail him out a bunch. 50/50 odds said instructor makes it out alive. Of course he'll get the girl who is most likely a complete dolt, if she screams at her reflection or a shadow the movie losses a star" I point my fingers at his face looking over imaginary glasses.

He holds his hand up in surrender chuckling lightly. "Ok ok, don't shoot the messenger. I think there's going to be at least 3 gory scenes, the protagonist will be saved twice by his instructor that makes it out alive somehow, the girl will probably be a dolt but if you scream at anything she doesn't I get to pick the next movie we see"

"Oh really? And if we both scream?" I narrow my eyes at him laughing at me.

"I don't scream during movies, I like horror stories so action won't be a problem"

"Alright if you jump I get to pick the next movie, deal?" We shake hands on it.

"Deal" he's still grinning at me when the lights go down and the pre show starts up. We answer the pre show questions together, I proudly get more answers right and he owes me a coke now. Sadly I loss to him and one other during the theater app game and owe him a coke too. At some point in time he flipped the arm rest up between us and we moved closer. He almost jumps and I almost scream but hold my tongue. Just two gross scenes, protagonist mentor lives somehow after helping him a bunch of times and the love interest girl was a dolt but didn't scream at anytime stupid so they don't loss a star on that. It's 11:15 when we get out and bombarded by text messages from our friends demanding to know how it went. Knowing they will know that I saw them I put my phone back in my purse without answering. I have 45 minutes to make sure my breath is fresh just encase. Maybe less because I can see him taking me home now to stay in my parents good books but I hope he doesn't just yet.

"Well I hoped you like it" He curls around me for a moment, folding me into a hug.

"Yaa I had lots of fun tonight"

"Me too" his phone goes off again and he finally caves after looking at the number. "I swear Myles if someone isn't dying… Someone's not dying right? Ok good can this wait a little longer? Hmmm… yaa, ok I'll ask" he puts his phone against his shoulder for a second. "They plan on going to the beach tomorrow morning, did you want to join us?"

"Oh the beach is open for the season already?" I thought it didn't open for another week or two.

"No Myles parents have a private beach we can make use of"

"I will have to ask Amanda and Curt but if they say yes I'd love to go, what time?" I flip my phone out and search for Amanda's cell phone number.

"It's a few hours from here so we will be leaving at like 9 in the morning" I pause, there's a new episode on tomorrow morning. Crap I haven't missed a show in years now. "We can watch the new episode after we get there, the water will be cold so we probably won't be going for a dip this time around, just hanging out, playing a few games stuff like that" I shoot the text off. I can always record the show and watch it later on if they don't want too.

"Sure, what kind of games?"

"Depends on who brings what" he answers bringing his phone back up to his ear. "Yaa just waiting on the go ahead from her parents, I'll let you know for sure in a few I should take her back home now so everyone gets some sleep in before tomorrow morning, cya in a few bro" he's on long enough to get a goodbye from Myles and were back in motion heading for his car.

The ride home suffers from some tension from both of us, I'm back to chewing on my lips pretending to be digging for my keys when really I'm scrambling for some gum or tic taks. Something, anything at this point. I still haven't found any by the time we get to my place, nor have I herd back from Amanda and my heart sinks when I see the kitchen light on. There waiting up for me! Oh now is a bad time to become helicopter parents! We don't even make it up the sidewalk before Curt is opening the door for us, he waves us both inside and I'm freaking out, they didn't really go to the party and find out I wasn't there did they? I scramble through my text messages and find one from Rachel that confirms it. Crap!

"So how was the party?" Curt narrows his eyes at Lenny.

"A typical Myles party lots of people, lots of food and drinks, music was being played too loud and someone got lost in the garden as always" there was a garden there? How did I miss that? "We had a blast but left a little early to grab a bit to eat, just down at the burger joint again" I plaster a smile to my face, someone told him the cover story thank goodness. "I know Vivian sent a message but I figured we should come in and ask personally plus you'll probably want directions if it's ok with you" smooooth…

"Do you even have a bathing suit dear?" Amanda asks me.

"Umm somewhere I believe, but Myles said the water will be too cold still so were just chillin out for the day, what kind of board games do we have? I figure I should add something to the pile"

"Books, comics, movies and or cd's are always welcome in the pile as well. Myles parents will be leading the way"

"Oh really?" Curt narrows his eyes in suspicion.

"Its part of a gated community so they have to enter the key code and write down names of approved guests on their property"

"Sounds fancy, lets go find a game or movie to bring along while Curt gets the address dear" My heart races along, I'm allowed to go! " I'll find a few options go brush your teeth" she waves me off to the bathroom with a wink. I have never brushed my teeth so fast and vigorously in my life. I take my millionth look to make sure nothing is stuck between my teeth and practical skip to the spare room. To my horror she has some of my old tmnt movies out too when Lenny walks in.

"Oh wow!" he picks up the vhs tape, how could she! "I have seen this in forever, hey we should bring this Myles never saw it" ... I love you Amanda! "We could make it a movie marathon with these old school vhs tapes. I still have my old vsh machine, I'll have to dig it out I don't think Myles dad has anything under 5 years old at the cabin… Oh!" he reaches for the monopoly game hiding in the corner.

"Be careful with that one, Vivian's never lost a game before" Curt nods at it. "You'll be hard press to win against her at any of them." He nods to a few newer ones too.

"I have never lost this game either" he holds up the Chinese checkers game box. " A challenge would be nice." He puts it off on the side. "So many gems in here, never bring this one" he holds up the chest game. "Deacon is a ruthless cut throat player and will take you down in three moves without mercy if you make the first move wrong."

"Got it, just putting that one away" I gingerly place it back inside the cabinet. He takes a pic and sends it off, another minute passes before his phone starts blowing up.

"The guys want to know if we can bring all the old tmnt movies with us? Roland is looking for his vhs player now"

"Sure" I answer. Oh emotional Rollercoaster ride is coming to a stop. I am going to give Amanda the biggest, tightest thank you hug ever in the history of thank you hugs.

"Awesome!" his smile is infectious.

"Awesome, lets get some sleep then, what time will someone be by in the morning? Sleepy head here can be cankerous without food in her first" Curt laughs at my outcry.

"Roland, Maya and myself will be back at 9am for her, Rachel, Myles, Isolda and Deacon will be riding with Myles parents, the majority of stuff coming with will be with us" Lenny steps back to let me out first.

"Great see our guests to the door, Curt your helping me put everything back" Amanda stalls him for us, better make it fast then! I half run down the stairs with Lenny not far behind me.

"Yay parents!" I joke

"At least they care about you enough to pry, not everyone can say that"

"I guess I got lucky then" I swing a bit on my jelly legs unsure what happens next. Lenny smooth as always reaches for my hand, laying a butterfly kiss on my knuckles.

"Yaa, they seem like great people" he whispers to me. "I had a blast tonight and can't wait for morning to come" he places just as sweet kiss on my cheek before taking a step back. Damn blush is showing to high heaven.

"I had a lot of fun tonight too, I hope everyone likes our picks for tomorrow, drive safe and let me know when you get home ok" I open the door for him hearing the floor squeak letting me know that the parental units are coming this way.

"I will, goodnight" he tips a fake hat making me laugh at him as he swaggers out the door.

"Goodnight" I call out to him as he turns slightly to wave at me. I close the door after he gets into his car and giggle at Amanda who ushers me off to bed while Curt makes gagging noises.

Could this get any better?

(Turtles lair, NYC)

Leo pleads with his brainy brother. "Why won't she wake up?"

"Only she can decide when she's ready Leo, she's almost all healed up so I don't think it'll be much longer but coma patients do weird things Leo, some times they wake up, some times they don't. The brain is like a computer and comas act like a virus. We got lucky with you, you came back to us but she may not. I'm sorry Leo but all we can do now is keep talking to her, remind her that were waiting for her back here on this side, see if her brain does a virus scan and detects it, after that it'll need to reboot or do whatever the brain does when a coma patient wakes up"

"But she was talking, she said something isn't that a good sign?" What did she mean when she asked what happens next?

"It can be a very good one, but her brain waves haven't changed much it could have been a muscle mistake too" Donny's shoulders sag, he half rolls in on himself "Look Leo I can't say for sure what's going to happen and I don't want to hurt you but I won't lie about the odds either. I'm sorry" he sounds so dejected

"Its ok Don, your doing your best. The secondary infection looks better all the time, the wound is healing up great. I guess on the plus side she can't be up and pulling the stitches on us this way" Leo forces a smile and they both know it. That doesn't stop Donny from forcing his own back, that they both know isn't real either.

Donny walks out of the room leaving his grieving brother begging Venus to wake up. He shouldn't leave him like that, Donny knows Leo feels bad about what happened, but had Venus not slipped between Leo and that blade they would have lots him for sure. She took the hit, the killing blow meant for him. Now they all owed Venus a life in savings their brother when they couldn't and it wasn't something he was ever going to forget. They needed to repay that debt so he slipped out the door with Raph, off to do something Leo would never approved of while Mikey kept him busy until they got back. The hospital had something in a secure area that he needed to help save her life and by the gods he would get his hands on it one way or another.

(Sunday)

To: TheOtherSide

From: BattleWisdom

Wake up, wake up Venus and find out what happens next with me

-L

Time sent: 8:49 am Saturday

Message status: not received

It occurs to me that I should check my emails, but I'm having too much fun packing this bag for the impromptu beach visit today. Yaa it's still a bit chilly but that's what blankets and cuddles with a boy are for. Besides all that stuff can wait till later, right now I got a life to live.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two:

(Sunday)

So. The beach when it's cold. Maybe not the brightest idea... "Myles!" I shriek as he pushes me off the boat into the supper chilled water. Nope, not a good idea. I flail about trying to get my bearings but end up smashing my head into the boat. In shock I gasp out and choke on water filling up my lungs. I panic and attempt to spit the water out. This of course does not work. My vision blurs and lungs burn as I sink closer to the darkness. The never ending darkness that's clawing up to meet me half way. Reaching for me, it wants me to join it. To rest. It's a lie. I'm terrified of that darkness. I fight, I resist, I can't go to it, I WON'T go to it. Leo said don't die, it was an order and a plea. So I scream and kick up as a pair of strong arms wrap around me, pulling me as a second pair help push me up My world spins and grows dark as I break the surface of the water. Lenny has me pinned to his chest as Roland fallows us up helping us both to the boat side. Deacon haul me up as Myles helps a pissed off Lenny and irate Roland on board.

"She's a strong swimmer what gives?" Rachel is right there beside me turning my head to the side as I upchuck the water in my lungs.

"It'll be from the head injury, going over rattled her brain around again. Underwater she would have been disoriented" Deacon is shinning a light in my eyes. "How are you feeling?"

"Wet" I answer choking on some left over water.

"Ok" Deacon shakes his head chucking at me. "I'll check back later, but I think you'll be ok" he sits back on his hunches and signals up to Isolda to head back to shore.

Myles shrinks in on himself, knees and hands twisted up. His eyes are down cast and voice is uncharacteristically quiet. 'Sorry"

I cough once more "Its ok Myles" Lenny pulls me up into a sitting position slowly. "I panicked and swallowed water, if I hadn't done that I would have been fine" Myles smiles weakly at me but stays in his spot as I caught a bit more. "When did you realize that I was in trouble?" I look over at Lenny.

"Between the loud thump of something hitting the boat and the sudden bubbles coming up from under water" Lenny stands there shaking in wet clothing, Roland shivers as he takes a seat. "We will need to dry our clothes when we get back" he has to shout over the sound of the engine gunning it again as Maya helps him stay on his feet with the jerky start.

Isolda knew how to drive a boat, had her license and everything, but it had been a while and she wasn't use to this new a model. She had complained it was like being a noob all over again. Sometimes she was all smooth with the take off's and stopping sometimes she sent everyone on board for a ride. However she was getting better. I look over at her blushing while Deacon talks about something. Maya flashes a grin at me, she see's it too. Rachel is content in her world chatting away with a mostly still quite with embarrassment Myles. I pat the seat beside me as Lenny nearly goes over board on us again, this time thanks to a quake caused by another boat, he sits down as we slow down and come to a stop. Deacon yells at the guy that I went over board and now where headed back to go dry off, he gets a list of things to be worried about and how to make sure we don't hurt ourselves trying to warm up too fast after a dip in such cold waters. Next we're told to be more careful and sent on our way. This time Isolda takes off much slower and smoothly. Lenny nods as we pass by them.

Back on shore I gingerly walk into the massive second house pretending to be a cabin. No really, this thing has two floors, plus a basement and a functioning attic. The so called attic functions as a reading nook, comfortable seats most of us… the second floor has 6, read it again SIX bedrooms, three bathrooms and a study/ library combo. Who's cabin has its own library? Why the heck is Myles not in some kind of private school system? The main floor has a sprawling kitchen with dinning table that we all fit at, before you add any extra chairs, it opens up to the living room. That has a lovely real wood Fireplace. There's plenty of polished to a gleaming shine all dark wood end tables nestled between the supper soft and luxurious dark brown leather couches and love seats. This whole area is sunk in leaving a clear shot out into the breath stealing view of the great out doors and the beach. The front entrance is bigger than my bedroom, I'm sure there's more closet space by that front door then there is in my house. I feel sorry for the maid that has to clean that much glass whenever someone comes over. The basement is mostly wide open, the den has the movie room seat up, there's a wet bar at the other end with a pool table between it all. Fyi a wet bar means theirs running water, and the booze is on tape, which means behind one of those closed doors is a cellar with barrels full of booze that comes to you. Behind the first door at the bottom of the stairs is the laundry room. The middle door leads to the bathroom, there's a spare bedroom down here… wtf do they need another spare bedroom for? … another door leads to a storage space, that leaves two other doors with unknown purpose and hidden content.

"Oh Vivian dear what happened?" Mrs. Eldren swoops down to see my trying not to drip water all over her hardwood flooring.

"Vivian fell off the boat, we jumped in to help her back on" Lenny answers for us, also trying not to drip water over everything.

"Oh dear, Ok Vivian come with me, I'll get a warm shower going, you boys go get ready for yours, Dean honey? We need some towels warmed up in the dryer" Mrs. Eldren calls out to her husband, who just gets up from his spot on the couch to do as instructed. "This way dears, Myles get some blankets ok"

"Yes mom" Myles pivots on his feet and heads for the stairs, taking them two at a time.

"Oh well Lunch is almost ready why don't the rest of you just take a seat and watch some tv while I help your friends, you know how to work the system right Deacon?"

"Yes mom" Deacon answers helping Isolda down into the sunken living room. It was weird at first but they got use to calling Mrs. Eldren mom after a while. She liked it that way, and it made them feel all welcomed right off the hop.

She guides Vivian up the stairs and into the master bathroom dropping each boy off in a different room with a bathroom attached to it along the way. Turns on the shower and tests the water before gathering up the wet clothing on the floor. "I'll get your clothes in the dryer and be up with a warmed towel in a moment ok dear?"

"Thank you Mrs. Eldren" Vivian nods slightly shaking from the cold.

"Call me mom dear, everyone else does" once more Mrs. Eldren smiles at her before disappearing out the door.

"Ok mom" Vivian calls out to the empty room. She steps inside the shower and lets the warm water run down her cold body.

At some point in time "mom" came back and placed some temporary clothing and a warm towel on the chair. I step out and wrap myself up in the still warm towel. Scrub at my hair with a corner and sigh. This doesn't feel real. Something is off. I try to dismiss the feeling, maybe it's this supper fancy house and surreal surroundings but it won't be shaken so easily. I turn around and scream at the top of my lungs. I do a double take to see me looking back at me… just with green skin. I blink and it's gone, but I am shaken by this, so much so that I'm clutching the edge of the sink when Mrs. Eldren burst through the doors with Lenny hot on her heels.

"Vivian?" they both look, trying to find what set me off.

"I'm sorry, I slipped and almost feel on my head again" I lie. They'd think I was crazy if I told them I saw me, only not me looking back at me in the mirror.

"Ok dear just be careful" Mrs. Eldren pushes everyone back out as Lenny looks at the floor then up at me. I think he knows I lied but how can I tell him about seeing me as a mutant turtle in the mirror?

Back down stairs Deacon checks me over again to make sure I'm ok. Then we sit down to watch the second movie while Mrs. Eldren hands us food. Mr. Eldren joins us with this movie too, I think he gets sucked in the same way we do. We binge and watch the third movie right after as one large family while Myles has to explain a few details to his mom about what's going on.

Normally I would toss popcorn at the tv screen when the bad guys come on but my mind keeps going back over today. Leo said don't die? Yaa he would say something like that, at the time I didn't think much of it but now I'm confused by what my own head was telling me, then my reflection? I decided to toss the idea out there as the last movie comes to an end. "Hey guys" I have most of their attention. "What do you think of there being a female turtle?" I get a few blank stares at this.

"The story has always been just the four of them. Are you referring to the ill fated live action tv series where they introduce a female?" Deacon asks first.

"The what?" I am confused by this.

"It's not worth the time. Her intro was totally unbelievable, and it flopped because of its incredibly low budget and not so good acting" Myles waves it away. "Kinda a waste of time, the core idea was cool enough they just didn't do a very good job with it"

"The next mutation did several things wrong. Introducing a female that only Leo suddenly remembered was just the first of offenses" Lenny shakes his head. He throws his hand over his eyebrow dramatically before giving himself a bad Shakespeare accent "Wait I do'ith recall a fifth turtle in the tank with us" Everyone chuckles with him. "Not that a female turtle couldn't have found some left over mutagen but they base so much on it just being the four brothers, to add a female means she would most likely be a sister and any romantic ideas go out the drain, no tv producer is going to air anything even close to resembling incest"

"Depends on the story line, it's currently 50/50 odds that their siblings by blood or not. In the next mutation they were not, so she wasn't either. This I'm sure is mostly done for ease of writing but still, a cop out" Roland rolls his eyes

"Low budget dudes. The costumes were terrible, the acting not much better. The intro and exit songs half baked at best"

"What was her name?" Vivian almost wants to look it up to see if it's as bad as they say it is. She gets a blank look from them.

"You know I don't remember what it was…" Lenny pauses in though.

"I couldn't be bothered to remember, I was trying to pretend it never happened. Much like the musical, we talk about it simply to state that it was a monumental money grabbing, evil and vile heretic thing to do and that we don't disuse it beyond that" Deacon rolls his eyes.

"Don't forgot the fallow up musical, or the Christmas special" Myles evil smile spreads across his face with a wicked gleam in his eye.

"Aaa dude, no!" I cover my ears trying to block the sounds out

"And then there was turtle tunes!" Myles keeps going despite our complaints. "Or their appearances on tv shows"

"MYLES!" Everyone yells at him and I start to forget about this morning's events.

After supper we pack up, it'll be a two plus hours ride back into town. And despite everything today was totally worth it

… … … … … ... ... … … … … … …

( NYC, some random hospital)

"You sure about this Donny?" Raph pulls his sai's out.

"Nope. But Venus needs it so we're getting it" Donny nods at him. "You don't have to come in, shell you can turn back and pretend you have no idea what I am about to do" he offers up.

"No turtle left behind, she saved fearless, scaring the crap out of some humans is a small price to pay to help her out" Raph figured it was just a matter of time before Donny offered that up.

"And the whole breaking and entering, theft under 500 and willful destruction of government property doesn't bother you?" Donny grimace at this, he will be cutting some of the power and shutting down the security tapes as they went but humans would spot them, this was a hospital with 6 flights of stairs to get down first then back up after. About a dozen guards, some 200 civilians. "Leo will be furious that we broke cover, it'll be all over the news. This is top of the line medical we're taking" there would be no getting around it, even if they did this without being spotted it would be all over the news, this new drug was worth a small fortune if it did what they say it could.

"Yaa, cuz my record is squawky clean and I ain't never been in trouble with him or the law before?"

"Night watcher days had you covered head to toe, there's no mistaking us for anything beside not human" Donny jump down onto the roof and could feel Raph following him.

"Can you do the geek thing while this high strung?" Raph watched the near robotic stride in his normally smooth brother. Watched him jab at his tablet in jerky back and forth movements when normally his fingers nearly danced across the screen, it looked like he was trying to stab a hole in it this time.

"I'll be fine once we get in motion." Donny paused with the last button. "One way or another we maybe exposing our family, putting them at great risk. I'm not sure who will be more pissed. Sensei for breaking that rule, Leo for breaking his trust or Venus for taking the risk" his hand hovered over the button. 21 years of training to stay in the shadows fighting his need to help Leo at any cost. Raph's hand slapped down on the screen and set everything into motion

(Monday)

Homeroom sucks. Teach is mad about something, throwing my paper down in front of me with a big red D- on the front. Roland is beside me and frowns at it, he got the same mark, yet we both know my paper was at least a B+. Roland sneers at him but doesn't say anything as the girl beside us get's an A despite their only being half a page of the 3,000 word essay on the paper. Looks like she copied and pasted from the book and added a few extra words. I try to not let it bother me but my grades in his class are effecting my over all mark, I should be at least qualifying for honor roll but can't because he refuses to give me any other mark. I doubt he even reads anything I hand in and just slaps that D- on the top right corner. I put it away and pull out my book for class patting Roland's arm to help him calm down. We receive a few looks but don't think nothing of it, by now everyone knows he's with Maya after the party and that I'm with Lenny. Why wouldn't we be hanging out? All our friends know each other. Literally. All our friends are hooking up with each other. It's straight out of some cheesy romance movie.

After class Roland takes me to second then shows up to take me to third, normally it's Myles but I guess he's off doing something. Then again at Lunch time Roland finds me first and walks me to the cafeteria. There we meet up with the rest but scoot off to the students lounge to use its free microwave instead of waiting in that line up. I keep spotting hints of green skin everywhere and it's getting annoying. I'll mention it to the doc after school today when I go in for my post head smashing into a wall check up. I don't feel right yet after that dip, I hope nothing is permanently broken, Myles was just joking when he pushed me into the water. He'd feel so bad if it hurt me at all. He's a good kid, a little loopy and needs to take things a little more seriously but a good kid over all. Rachel is like a kid in a candy store, she's excited by everything and seems to be under the impression that we're all 10 feet tall and bullet proof. Sweet, but one day her head will come down from the clouds and she'll totally freak out with understanding. Isolda is smart, like Deacon, both need to stop thinking with their heads and just say what their feeling already. It's painfully obviously that they like each other, they way they always reach for each other at the party, then at the beach. It's a purely physical reaction to each other and their over sized brains are getting in the way. Maya and Roland are not having that problem. Nope, they are pawing at each other and everyone knows what their building it up too after school… maybe somewhere in the school at this rate.

"Roland" Lenny pokes him in the arm. "Dude really?"

Roland doesn't like being interrupted, his face twists up before growling out "What?"

"Keep it pg rated we have younger students in this school too you know" I think Lenny's reminder drops an ice bucket on Maya's head. She stiffens up and pulls back with a blush. Roland's really not impressed with this but backs off as well and they seem content to just sit especially close to each other. I keep nudging Isolda but either she's ignoring me or deliberately being obtuse about the hints. Lenny's doing the same but not having any luck with Deacon. So we stop and just do that awkward moment thing where we clearly have something to say but can't form the right words so... we just sit beside each other and eat. Something doesn't feel right about this whole thing either. I can't shake it off, it's there at the tip of my tongue. Like a barley remembered idea, you know it's about something important but you just can't recall anything after that. Something I guess I'll have to bring up with the doc later on.

I sense a tension in the air as I head off to fourth. Roland meeting me up just before Lenny does to take me to fifth makes the walk very … unsettling. I'm not sure what it is, yet. Finally at the door I can't keep my mouth shut anymore. "That was awkward. Roland is there something you want to get off your chest?" he seems to take a second to think about this but Lenny steps up first.

"Is there any reason why you bumped everyone else off the watch list?" Lenny looks unhappy about this, he sounds defensive and puts himself between us. "Myles said you told him to not worry about it anymore, same with Deacon and Maya, but I know you've been walking her to every class today, dispute the fact that Ricky and Bryon aren't in school today"

"They're not?" I didn't even realize it. Guess today has been hassle free now that I think about it.

Roland shifts on his feet before finally blurring out "Its my fault she got hurt. Maya asked me to keep an eye on her, you told me to keep her safe and I failed" we both stop him there.

"You where sick Roland" I start off.

"No one could have predicted that they would react like that simply because they couldn't tease her for a few days" Lenny steps off to the side, I realized that he may have been jealous and trying to give a visual clue that he doesn't want Roland getting so chummy with me. I swoon on the inside at this. He was worried about his best friend stealing me away from him?

"Roland" that also explains the looks we've been getting. "That was very sweet of you, but I'm sure it's fine now. I pressed the charges, they can't come near me unless it's passing by me in the halls, they can't look at me or talk to me at all without making it worse on themselves. Even they aren't that stupid"

He shifts again with a ruefully smirk playing at the corner of his lips. "Yaa I guess you're right. I just felt so bad when I heard about it, then I saw the marks and it's been eating at me ever since, if I'd just been here…" he leaves it at that.

"Thanks Roland" Lenny gives him the guys one sided hug. " But no one's blaming you for being sick and not being everywhere 24/7. I should have made her come to the dojo to get some lessons knowing that they were bugging her so much. If anyone failed, it was me for not spotting the potential danger in this whole mess and making sure she had a tool to deal with it. Speaking of…" the bell goes off and he stops us from both dashing off in opposite directions. "Both of you need to come to the dojo after school…"

"Team meeting…"

"Fallow up appointment…" we both mutter out at the same time.

"… as soon as possible, so I can show her the steps and moves to take so it doesn't happen again. I can drive her to the appointment, can you pick her up for me? I need to get to the dojo to help so classes can continue this Wednesday"

"Oh! there almost done rebuilding the dojo already?" Roland looks excited by this idea.

"It was a lot of smoke damage so it's been easier to fix then we first feared, mostly replacing stuff and some minor repairs.." he nods off to my teacher walking towards us. "I'll hand her over in a minute Mrs. Cody" she smiles and waves and like so I'm off the hook for being way late again. "You'll come and try right? Roland won't stop beating himself up until he knows you got some basics and I don't want to have to tell the girls that you're not both going behind my back because everyone is getting the wrong idea about why you're walking everywhere together suddenly" Roland goes stiff at this idea.

"Oh Lenny man I wouldn't! Not that you're not pretty and all Viv but Maya…" he's stumbling over his words and I feel my eyes grow big at how adorable it is.

"Its ok" Lenny and I both stop him this time.

Lenny smiles at us. "I figured it was you being over protective again. Just don't forgot that the others want to help too and if the charges hold we won't have to worry about it much longer anyway" he finally wraps his arm around me, placing a kiss on my forehead and I almost swoon in real life.

"I thought the others were busy and that poor Roland was having to cover a lot of ground today. I didn't think anyone would make something of it. Thank you for not believing the other girls and trusting us to not do something like that" I feel my knees twist into each other as my fingers pull at themselves. Awkward.

"I know Roland, I trust him with my life. He'd never do something like that to me. Not after he went to all the trouble of finding out your answer first." We both blink at him in shock. "Yaa I know you went to talked to her beforehand, I also know that you got uppity with her when you thought she might have said no. I maybe new to this dating game but I have eyes and ears all over this school buddy" Roland goes a few shades red at this as I try not to laugh about it. "I like to think that I'm a good judge of character, plus all my eyes and ears let me know enough about you to know that wouldn't be your style either." He turns me around to face the door. "Go we can talk more later I've kept you long enough" I grin as I walk into class apologizing for taking so long. I watched Lenny and Roland walking away and wonder what they're talking about.

After fifth I collect my stuff and hop into the beat up truck with Lenny. There's plenty of small chit chat and easy banter and it gets a little heated by the time we get to the hospital. He walks me in and makes sure that I'm taken into a room before leaving and sending a text off to Roland to let him know he's got about a half. He could wait but he's already late and I think he's trying to prove to the world that there's nothing going on between Roland and me, that he trusts us.

"Any questions or concerns?" The doc isn't looking at me, I ring my hands again lazily kicking my feet off the side of this examination table like a little kid. Do I really tell him about what I've been seeing?

"A few" I start, it grabs his attention. He sits up and waits for me to finish chewing on my lip. He probably thought I would play it cool and not say anything like most people would, to avoid any new medication or extra exams. "After the hit, as I lay on the floor I got these ghostly after images of these tv characters shadowed over other people, like a badly photo shopped video." He nods to keep me going. "My friends kind of remind me of the tv characters so I didn't think too much of it at the time, just figured it was my brain doing something funny to help me process what was going on around me"

He nods again tapping his pen on the table. "It's common after a head injury such as yours to have the brain, do funny things, such hallucinations is a sign of brain fog and confusion, was there a headache before or after seeing the fictional characters?"

"A little, nothing some water didn't take care of" I answer. "Nothing strange happened on Saturday, but Sunday I was at a friend's private beach house and as we took a spin in the motor boat I went over board. I hit my head against the boat and thought the water was trying to get me, two friends helped me up after I swallowed some water. I fallowed the instructions given to us by the guards to bring my body temp back up to normal after a dip in cold water. Well after the shower I looked in the mirror and saw me, only I wasn't me, I was like one of the tv characters but there are no females like them. Then I was seeing non-human coloring and shapes, green skin, colored masked around eyes, weapons hanging off their backs, three fingers instead of two"

"Teenage mutant ninja turtles characters?" I look up at him in shock. "My son loves the show, so your friends remind you of the brothers and your brain supplied an after image of you as a female version?" I nod at this "Brains are funny, fickle things. At best we barley understand them and guess at what they are really capably of doing."

"They're like computers and mine is just resetting itself" I startle at this, I've heard someone say that before but who?

"Correct. But we still don't understand them. Chances are good that your brain was trying to make sense of what was going on and to help you to understand it supplied an image. You knew it was a bad idea to move, maybe you thought about moving, anyway. A very typically flight or fight response when we know we are in danger, so your brain convinced you to stay still because the boys had the situation under control until help could arrive. That's what they do, defend the weak, protect the innocent. So keeping you from inflicting more damage to you, it showed you what it knew would be a soothing, calming image of the turtles defending you until it knew it was safe to move again. The brain can do some extraordinary things, I think what your brain was trying to tell you with the female turtle image was that you don't need the boys to defend you, that you can do that by yourself. Maybe it's trying to tell you to be more like them, have you ever thought about joining a self defense program for woman? Maybe some other kind of martial arts that look interesting? Maybe then your brain will stop giving you after images" He's so sweet and there was no judgment in his voice.

"My friends suggested the same thing. Maybe I need to lay off the show for a bit" he laughs with me.

"Oh not at all! I love the show too, grew up with it when I was younger. It's got some great cheesy ideas and notions in it. Sounds like you got some amazing friends if you think they take after hero's like that"

"Yaa their personalities are similar too"

"You got a good head on your shoulders, take it easy for a bit more, try to avoid any more hits to the head, even underwater ones. Take pain killers as needed to keep the headache at bay, ginger ale for your stomach and by the end of the week you should be good to go for all activities again" he smiles kindly at me opening the door for me. "You should think about the self defense classes at least, crime against females is on the rise and one as small as you maybe seen as an easy target." He try's one more time.

"My boyfriend won't let me not learn a few things after this" I point to my brain making the doctor laugh at me some more.

Roland locates me before I see him in the waiting room. I give him the low down on the way to the dojo.

I feel like I'm stepping into my home. I automatically kick my shoes off at the door and remove my socks without needing a prompt or reminder. I scan the boxes containing awards and metals the dojo has won, certificates of authenticity, higher Dan levels complete by the instructors and some of the students, and finally the coup de grâce, two pieces of paper, signed, sealed, dated, certifying the owners as bonifided masters of the arts. I'm in awed at it all, Mr. Sheppard will qualify for grand master status soon. A very impressive goal for one as young as him. And while he maybe closes in on sixty five and not at all young in body, his mind is just as sharp as ever.

"Thank you child for removing your out door shoes. Who taught you to remove your socks as well?" Mr. Sheppard smiles at me.

I smile back at him warmly "Hello Mr. Sheppard"

"Technical right now I am master Sheppard, but close enough. Thank you for coming down, Shian Lenny said you would be stopping by after your doctor's appointment, how did it go?" He try's another question.

"Another week of light stuff and I should be good to go, so long as I can avoid anymore hits to it. I have never been in a dojo before, so I'm not sure what prompted me to take my socks off"

"The guys never wear shoes or socks when their training in the TV show, maybe you just picked it up?" Lenny walks in already to go.

"The guys don't own any shoes or socks. Cute uniform" I giggle at him poking at the large black belt holding the shirt in place

"It's called a GI, this is called the obi, or the belt of the uniform" he corrects me without batting an eye at this. I don't take offense, it's simply training kicking in.

"That's good to know, do I need one of those and if I do how much is that going to cost?" I hope I have enough on me.

"There are samples you can try, then we will order one just for you, about $120 after taxes, but until you decide that you want to join up for some lesson with a regular class your gym stuff will do" I have a feeling he's letting me off the hook.

"If you're not going to die then can we please get this over with already?" Maya complains as she walks into the dojo behind me. Isolda and Rachel following in behind her.

"Hey girl how's your head?" Rachel stops to talk.

"Doc says I'll live" I give two thumbs up as Isolda smiles at me, then I realized she's not looking at me but behind me. I turn around and forget to breathe. All four boys are standing around chatting, I see Mikey laughing it up with a scowling Donny as Leo goes off on Raph about something. I blink really hard and when I open my eyes again, it's Roland getting up in Lenny's face about his Obi being tied tight enough while Myles jokes about it and Deacon pulls at his belt to make sure it's done right. I guess Isolda was looking at Deacon, his GI pants are hanging off his hips in a fabulous way. Even I can admit that and I don't find him attractive. Sure it must be great to have a highly intelligent conversation that doesn't involve sports, cars or swim suit models but there's not enough meat on the boy.

"Earth to Vivian" Rachel waves a hand in front of my face. "Stop drooling…"

I take a light swing at her. "RACHEL!" She breaks off into a run crackling in delight as my face turns a dark shade of red, I can see Lenny trying not to laugh at me. It's good to know the boy has some survival instincts. Roland… not so much. Deacon is doing his best to hide it and Myles is too quite to be a good thing. He's plotting something, I just know it.

"Ok" Lenny flags us all down. "Let's get this started" it's going to be long night but here goes nothing.

… … … … … … … …

(NYC, Turtles lair)

"Mikey" Leo puts Venus's hand down interrupting him mid story. "Where did Donny and Raph go?"

"Aaa. Ha aaa what you talkin' about bro?" Mikey slumped back faking a relaxed posture.

"You're trying to distract me, so where did they go and how much trouble are they going to get into helping her?"

"You, there helping you" Mikey lunges forwards, tackling Leo as an alarm goes off. "And you gotta stay here!" he manages to keep Leo pinned for a few minutes. They struggle, they argue and eventually Leo pulls a Raph and strong arms Mikey into submission.

Leo takes off to the monitors to see who pulled an alarm. Just short of his destination Mikey comes flying at him. "I said you gotta stay here!"

"Someone's robbing a hospit… they didn't" Leo stops to stare at Mikey in growing horror. "They wouldn't!" Mikey gives up trying to stop him, slumping to the ground in defeat. "How could they! This goes against EVERYTHING we have been taught. Why would they ruin the family honor like that?"

"Because it doesn't mean much to us. We just…"

Leo screams "It's one of the few things we do have!"

Mikey's head drops, his shoulders curl in. "Not anymore"

Leo racks his brain for a solution. "If they stop right now, we can fix this…"

"No. I mean we lost our honor when we let Venus take a hit for you. It should have been one of us, not her, not the only female of our species" Mikey throws back his head into the wall, exposing the tears. "She threw herself in harms way while we all stopped and stared. I saw the moment, I saw that sword getting closer to your neck and knew I wouldn't make it. I froze up man"

(Tuesday)

"Honey I hurt" I try to stretch out my back but it's not working.

"it'll get better with regular practice" Lenny shuffles in closer to me.

Maya folds herself over the table "It better for the price of regular classes"

"You signed up already?" I haven't even looked at the prices yet.

"Yaa, it's pricy but my parents didn't bat an eyelash at it when I told them what it was for, just signed and paid for it in full online" Maya arches her back and makes some pained noises.

"So did mine" Rachel wiggles in beside Myles

My phone buzzes startling me out of my thoughts. It's a text message from Isolda

-Can I talk to you in private?

Intrigued, I say sure when and where. I haven't even taken my finger off the send button when a reply comes back, damn she's fast.

-ur haunting ground, 5 minutes?

I send a K back at her and excuse myself from the table. Making my way there I get stopped by some girls.

"Vivian right?" Blondie waves at me.

"Yes, can I help you at all?" I think she maybe new or something I've never seen her before, maybe she's lost? The school is a funky maze at first with random dead ends here and there. My old haunting spot is around the corner I shouldn't be late to meet up with Isolda

"I was wondering if you knew where Roland is?" pink hair beside her is smirking and I'm not sure why.

"Tuesday at lunch he'll be in the gym for practice, if he owes you lunch for doing his homework you'll be waiting a while fyi" Maybe not new, maybe just looking for him.

Pink hair's eyes narrow at this. "You even do his homework for him?"

"He asked for a favor, I didn't mind so yes I've helped him with his homework" by now I'm confused. "Practice and tournaments can take up a lot of time, so when he starts to fall behind he gets the odd person to help him out. I get the rough draft done and hand it over, he goes through and finishes it up, hands it in an no one is the wiser" well hopefully no one is.

"So do you help him with any other favors?" Blondie gets up in my face.

"Ummm. No…"

"She's not cheating on Lenny with his best friend , fuck off" Isolda hauls me off and away. "Vivian" she plunks down into the tight corner pulling me down with her. "So, I like this guy…"

"Deacon?" I raise my eyebrows at this, everyone knows it, probably even him.

She shots me a peeved look. "Anyway" what did I do wrong? "He asked me out on a date and I kinda … maybe … said no…"

"What? Why? Why not?" I rapid fire at her. "Like a no, no? Or like a not this weekend kinda no?"

"Like I freaked out half yelled no and ran away like a big dork! He's so smart and witty and I'm not!"

"Isolda" I square our shoulders up. "You get A's across the board, you have a full scholarship to basically any school you want to attend. Yule accepted you. You are a very bright woman… minus 2 glasses of wine."

"Oh my god! I told him how hot he was at that party!" she pulls a scream face at this. "I drabbled on about him like a groupie would!" I pat her shoulder trying not to laugh at her. "Don't sass me! I made a fool of myself…"

"And yet he still asked you out" this grabs her attention. "He was by your side all Sunday. Literally, right there, all Sunday. He cuddled up to you, he got you water and snacks so you wouldn't have to get up. He walked around with you and the conversation was almost none stop between the two of you. I thought you were already a thing? What gives?" I need more details.

"He's an A plus student and that's only because they don't grade any higher. He is on the honor roll. He can attend any university he wants, he's almost got enough scholarships to get his doctorate. I am not smart enough for that man…"

"Don't droll on me. I get it you think he's all that and a bag of chips. I don't think he will think any less of you simply because his IQ score is a bit higher. He's a good guy right?" she nods yes at this. "You think he's smokin' hot too?" again she agrees with me. "You'd do him"

She pulls a face at me. "Crass much?"

"Yep you'd do him" I mock her agitated outcry. "he's basically seen you fall over drunk and rendered stupid but still likes you. He didn't ditch when he could have. He clearly enjoys spending time with you." She's still agreeing with me so that's a good sign. "You obviously enjoy his company, he's smart enough to keep up with you in scientific talk, even if you have some trouble keeping up with him…" I cut the complaint off before it can start again. "And he's ok with that, he gets to flex his brainy muscles and make you droll while you get to learn something new. I don't see any problems here"

"But…" She starts up again. "I'm not smart enough, what if he gets board of me? Board with my lack of understanding or lower educational standards? What if he finds someone smarter? Or prettier than me? What if…" Someone clears their throat behind me and as her eyes go wide and face flushes, I know who it is?

"Hypothetical words. What if implies an endless supply of possibilities?" Deacon holds a hand out to help her up. "Theory work can get boring after some time. Why not try some practical instead, say yes and find the answers with me?" he pulls her up and she stutters before I shove her into his arms.

"Oh!" she goes to back up and I shove her back in. "Stop it!" she hisses at me. "Ok, yes" she turns back to him with a smile on her face and cheeks a bright red.

"Tonight at 7 then? I'll pick you up"

I dash out the side to leave them to it hearing her timid reply.

Look at me playing match maker. I bet Rachel would be happy with my meddling ways, I'm sure Maya would just roll her eyes but I got a spring in my step. I helped the big brains figure something out for a change. I might not know much about dating but I knew enough to help them. As Mikey would say cowabunga dudes.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

(NYC, some random hospital)

"Raph!" Donny jumps forwards and reefs the door open, they scurry inside and it closes behind them with a defining crash.

"Well were here, we're inside, lets get this over with" He grins at the bewildered Donny before walking down the stairs. "How far down do we gotta go, anyway?"

"All six flights, These stairs only take us to the top floor, from there we need to cross to the other side of the building, it's a straight shot down to the basement, back to this side of the building and through a bullet proof, finger print required locked door. Then we get to make our way back up and out that door" Donny pauses at the door leading into the hospital. "If we trip an alarm or someone else signals it we got 15 minutes tops before this place is crawling with cops"

"Ok, so Let's make this fast then, cut the lights" Raph peeks out and only spots a few nurses walking about.

"Lights and security tapes will be cut in 3…2.." Donny didn't need to say the last number, startled screams echoed around them as the lights went out, as if they were suffering from a power out. Donny thought about cutting all the power but they have elderly, sick and tiny little babies here on life support. He wouldn't risk any of their lives if he didn't have too. They dashed around the two nurses huddled together as they shimmied down the wall trying to locate something. He was daring to hope for an all clear floor when one of the woman shone a flashlight right at him and started freaking out. She was screaming and crying while pointing at them even as they disappeared into the stairwell.

"Why they gotta scream like that?" Raph grunts out opting to jump down the stairs all at once instead of running down them. He pivoted and jumped down the next set, Donny following his lead.

"It's only natural for them to fear what they don't know" Donny huffed out at the third jump. He Springs forward and almost takes out a security guard at the next landing. Raph rotates and pushes the yelling guard back through the door before they leap to the next floor. "They may figure out where we're going shortly if they haven't by now" Donny nods at the patient they pass pressed into the wall muttering about never taking those meds again. This was going too smoothly for them. Turtles luck was going to hold out sooner or later.

"So you got a plan on how to get past that fancy door you were talking about?" Raph holds a door closed so Donny can take lead. Two floors to go.

"Yes" Donny answers kicking the next door they pass closed before anyone could walk out of it.

"Care to fill me in?" Raph knows that tone. Donny doesn't have a plan… yet… it's the same one fearless uses when he wants everyone to just fallow his lead without questions.

"Not yet" Donny even uses the same excuses as fearless. Raph shakes his head at this. So far Donny could have done this on his own, he said he needed Raph's help. Now he questioned if he really needed it or just knew Raph would force his hand and push that first button for him. Sometimes Raph got the feeling that they all used him as a scape goat, him and his rebellious side anyway.

Getting into the secure area was easier than anticipated, then again these basic security guards really couldn't do much against some powerful mutants such as themselves. With the advantages of their superior size, speed, strength and agility plus 10 years of intense training from a world class master… well it all boiled down to, and he loathed to admit this but brawn over brains … this time, he'd let it go just this one time. He picked Raph to help for more than one reason. His willingness to cause trouble and to look the other way at some of the unsavory sides of being a ninja was at the top, but by no means the only things. He knew about this high tech gear long before they got here, he also knew he could hack the system… in about 7 minutes, that would be 4 minutes too long. So here he was, about to admit out loud that sheer stubborn will power and brut force would do the trick faster. This pill may hurt going down, he swallowed the lump in his throat as Raph took out the last guard. "I can't get past this security system in our way in time. I needed you here because these hinges are weak, a few hits should make the whole thing buckle"

"Should? Last time you said should do the trick we ended up at swimming for our lives while dumber and dumbest taking pot shots at us with a tank. As I recalled they nearly blow you up with said tank"

"Well had that shell hit me it would have been more like a splat rather than a boom…"

"Seriously?"

"Just hit the door here two, three times tops, if you get it to crack I'll let brawns win this one" Donny tossed it out there hoping to speed this up. Just like he figured Raph took a few steps back and charged, a pone contact red lights started flashing, a bell was shrieking and mostly covering up the sounds of copious amounts of people running towards them. Third hit was the charm. Raph shook his head out and traded places with Donny holding the last door shut keeping the humans out for now. Sooner or later they would have to open that door if they hoped to escape. It only took Donny 2 minutes to find what he was looking for. Aaaa, the joys of a systematic, logical order and OCD habits of labeling the shell out of everything. He happily plucked up two of the syringes and safely tucked them away in a mini cooler of his own making for just this occasion.

Now, to get back out

(Wednesday)

"What did you do?" Maya grabs me by the face, squashing my lips up into a duck impersonation. I grabble out out an answer knowing it won't make sense but hope she will release me faster. "Isolda was up crying last night for an hour and I couldn't get a straight answer out of her" with that I rip my face away.

"Oh no! But the date… it started off with so much promise!"

"Aaaa!" Rachel screams at me, finger pointing at me. "You played match maker without me!"

"He asked her out, why would he…" I pause seeing Deacon strolling through the halls. All eyes narrow in on our target, who senses danger and try's locating it. Spotting us, he takes a weary step back and looks for an exit. He's saved by Roland who questions us with a raised eyebrow. Maya huffs at the universal sign for wait a minute. We glare daggers into Deacon's twitching back while he talks with Roland. After some nods and some words one response has Roland howling at something. "A mistake perhaps?"

"A breakdown in communications?" Rachel offers up next.

"An apology maybe in order" Maya flicks two fingers at her eyes then stabs them in Deacon's direction. Who looks worried about the implied message and thinly veiled threat. Knowing Maya it will be directed at his manhood to boot.

"I'm not getting an answer from Isolda…" Rachel has her phone out and is frantically typically away at it, toes tapping and fingers twitching. My phone gets the answer as her text message ring tone goes off. I stare down at the message unsure what to do with it. "Well what did she say?" I flip my phone around and watch their eyes dart across the screen.

"I'm gonna kill him" Maya turns on a dime and Deacon jumps behind Roland.

"Hold on" Rachel sends off another message while blocking Maya's path. "It sounds like a communications breakdown to me" Sure enough my phone goes off again. I'm in trouble for sharing the first answer. "See she's just embarrassed about her actions" Rachel finishes reading it first. Sounds like it to me so I double check and her reply has us laughing at her. "Silly girl, you always let the guy make the first move"

"Deacon moves slower than molasses in January, it was probably a good idea on her part, what'd I'd miss?" Lenny folds himself around me in a hug. I let him read the text messages once done I think he has to bite his own cheek to stop himself from laughing at it as well. With the good sign Deacon and Roland come over, Roland in front so he can distract Maya first. "Next time make the first move"

"I didn't think…"

"Dude the girls agree to dates for that first kiss" Roland shakes his head "It sets everything up for the next one, unless you don't want a second one" Roland tightens his grip on Maya for a second while Deacon blinks at him in confusion.

"Why wouldn't I want a second date?"

"Good, just tell her that now" I jab him in the shoulder. "Now" I try again he pulls his phone out but stops when everyone clears their throat at him. "Call, she's embarrassed so now you gotta stick your neck out" he sighs at us but hits the call button.

"Good morning Isolda" he starts off rather stiffly to me but his posture relaxes with her answer. "Yes it would seem I am in trouble and missed a social cue again" I feel my eyebrow go up at this, poor girl is fixing as she goes I guess. "My apologies for the bad ending last night… no its quite alright, it was my fault" his face flares up red at something and I can feel Rachel bounce a little wanting to know more. Thank goodness Myles isn't here right now… spoke too soon. I see him walk around the corner, spot us, zone in on Deacon's rosy appearance and bee line it over. "Umm yes, about that… no no… no really…. Yes fine… I was just about to ask you… I think that sounds like a lovely idea for a second date" he smiles like we're not even there, completely absorbed into the conversation with Isolda, I do a happy little dance seeing this unfold and hear Lenny chuckle in my ear.

"Speaking of second dates" he whispers in my ear next. "The theater is switching up what it's playing, want to see if there's anything good playing this weekend?"

"I bet they would love that idea, let me ask" Deacon pats my arm to get our attention. "Isolda swung us a pair of advanced tickets to the new tmnt movie release Thursday night, she was thinking we could all go to see it together if everyone's up to it?"

"Aa hell yaa" Myles answers first.

"I'm game" I look over at Lenny agreeing with me.

"I'll switch shifts with someone" Maya answers.

"I just dropped mine for anyone to pick up" Rachel answers.

"Sure, practice won't take long after school" Roland nods at us.

"Everyone's game" Deacon answers finally. "Show starts at 9" he informs us. "Dinner first?" he throws it out there last minute.

"I'm not going to the salad bar" Roland grumbles out.

"Its not.. no I was thinking the pizza joint by the theater" he gets a resounding yes at this idea from everyone. "So supper at 7 then?" another round of yes's later we got us a large group date set up.

"I'm not counting this as our second date, fyi. I want to take you to the park Friday if that's ok with you?" Lenny leans in closer and I find it hard to breathe.

"Sure, what time?" I hope I didn't sound as breathless as I think I did.

"9?" He answers, wow that's getting late.

"Ok" why am I so excited by this idea? I don't even know what he has planned, just a time and generalize area, my heart rate has picked up its pace too as I spot him bitting the corner of is lip. Oh god what does he have planned? "So what will we be doing?"

"It's a secret for now" He answers as he starts walking us away from the others. "Class starts soon" I pout at this idea as his fingers dance across my hip bone pulling at my shirt edges. I forgot to breathe for a moment as every single cell in my body is focused in on the new sensation.

I know I sound breathless but answer, anyway. "Ok, Friday, nine, park"

"I'll pick you up at 8:30 then?" he pushes his luck and slips a hand into my pocket.

"Ok" I've been rendered stupid with a simple gesture.

"Perfect, I'll see you at lunch then? Just meet me at the students councils room ok?"

"Ok" I can't even think of a none single syllable answer.

"See you then" he removes his hand from the pocket and I can breathe again.

I half stumble into class and take my seat, one of the first here. Damn it, he distracted me to make sure that I got to class ahead of time, to be fair he won't be late this way. But I'm still grumbling about it when Roland walks in just before the bell goes off. He sits down beside me and starts laughing. To my face, in my face. I am not impressed as I turn a million and one shades of red. Mr. Stanford doesn't say anything just waits for Roland to gain his composure again before starting class up. A few are looking at us trying to figure out what happened but I choose to ignore them.

At lunch time I knock on the door with my lunch kit in hand, I don't see the others around but I'm sure they will be here soon enough. "Hey, where are the others?"

"Hey" Lenny opens the door then promptly shutting it behind me. "We've been hanging out as a group a lot lately so I thought it might be nice to have some time to ourselves"

"Oh the students council room, how private" I giggle at this.

"Today yes" he answers me. "Roland and Maya are keeping the others busy and I told the rest to steer clear of here for now" he grins at me.

"My, you certainly went out of your way for just lil ol' me" I feel the flush start in my neck. He has made sure we wouldn't be disturbed for an hour. Alone. In a locked room… Something feels off about this. I don't feel like I'm in any danger but it's a terrible cheese thing to do, like straight out of a girly romance novel thing to do. It's a bit over the top but I won't complain, he's trying to be romantic, even at school so I'll give him some points for that, he's working with what he's got… and candles. How did he get candles in here? Is that safe? Is that allowed?

"No trouble at all" Lenny helps me sit down and the flush creeps up my face a bit more. He keeps looking at me and It's not at all romantic like I thought it would be. It's kinda creepy after a while. I smile pulling stuff out of my lunch kit. He finally gets the idea and starts eating too. This silence is heavy like he wants to say something but can't. Again all the times I thought about it, wrote about something like this I thought it would be supper romantic and leave me with butterflies in my stomach. Nope. I kinda wanna bail out the door, it gets unnerving fast. Like he's drunk and can't focus, or like when the evil witch puts someone under a spell. Like it's not real.

"You're amazing" Lenny pulls me from my thoughts and my first instinct is to go gooey eyes at this, but that's just a generalized statement. I don't want to be picky but if someone is going to compliment me, then they should be a little more specific. What about me is so special, what action did I take that stood out to him? He keeps looking at me and I wonder if their playing a trick on me. It sounds like something they would do. "You put up with so much from Ricky and Bryon without complaint, then fearlessly mop the floor with them when they cross the line" … Is he a mind reader? He chuckles at nothing before turning his attention to his lunch and the creepy factor gets dialed way down. "They come back to school tomorrow, ready to face them?"

At last the conversation starts up. "I should be fine, we don't have any classes together and they can't even talk to me, let alone look in my direction or approach me. I just need to ignore them for another week and then be done with them."

"A plan of attack, nice" he takes to big a bite out of his sandwich and gets sauce on the side of his mouth. I have this urge to lick it off for him but control myself since it seems a bit random.

I shake my head at myself. Hopefully these strange wrongness feeling go away soon, I'd like to get back to my life.

… … … … … … … … … …

(NYC, the turtles lair)

"Honey I'm home" Raph didn't think about the words coming out of his mouth and instantly regretted it. Venus wasn't sitting on the couch watching some tv show with Leo, which means she wasn't about to answer with her trade mark snippy come back -well it's about time dear- the way her voice could drip with sarcasm always made him smile. The fact that she could get Leo to voluntarily leave the dojo and his meditation matt behind long enough to be a brother was a god sent. Now Leo barley did any of it, he just sat by her side and that left an uncomfortable sensation in the pit of Raph's stomach.

"What did you do!" speak of the devil. Leo stormed up to them, finger shaking in disapproval already with a scornful tone.

"It was nothing Leo, go get some rest" Donny try's calming him down, but this only seems to set something off in Leo

"It's all over the news!" Leo huffs out for a moment to collect his thoughts. "Two giant monsters were seen fleeing the scene of the crime? A real crime? You two just robbed a hospital that isn't nothing in my books" Leo turns on Donny first.

Raph waits until Leo isn't facing him before jumping on his back. "I got him" cowboy style he covers Leo's eyes up temporally blinding him. "Hurry up and try it man"

Donny doesn't waste any time, he shouts at Mikey as he races by. "Help Raph keep Leo away from Venus for like 5 minutes" Mikey takes off to help his brother as Donny slams through the door into the med room.

(Thursday)

"I'm so excited!" Rachel bounce on her feet waiting in line.

"Chill dudette" Myles wraps his arms around her trying to contain the energy. "Just another half hour till show time"

I look at the long line up and hope we got here fast enough. A few dozen ahead of us, a few dozen behind and more coming all the time. Mainly little kids but a fair amount of older people too. I spot Lenny, Roland and Deacon finally getting to the front of the line and begin to order our snacks. I gotta admit this system of splitting up works well. Half stands in one line with everyone's orders while the other half holds everyone's place in line to get the best seats. Our line moves closer to the front as the others finish up and walk our way.

Finally inside and seated I can't help but bounce a bit in excitement.

"So predictions?" Lenny laughs at me.

"Yaa cuz it's hard to know what's going to happen" Roland beside me smirks at this. "Bad guys are aliens"

"Nope, bad guys are mutants this time" Myles try's next.

"I think they are aliens from a different dimension." I throw out there.

"Risky but I like it, I'm gonna say a power hungry human" Lenny looks at the other girls who just shake their heads, they got nothing. "Plot twist? Guys not really evil just trying to set something right, it's a seemingly side character that try's taking over the world"

"Straight up bad mutants" Myles sticks to his guns.

"Straight up evil alien dudes, almost wins too" Roland nods once at this.

"Of course the bad guys almost win, but that's only because no one listens to Leo and messes up the plan. Plot twist is they get help from the humans, then thanked for all they did" I raise my eyebrows daring someone to say otherwise.

"Oh that's risky, the guys never get help and the humans always run away screaming" Myles probably thinks I'm crazy. "What you willing to bet on that mad man's idea?"

"Lunch for a week" I throw it out there and get a few looks.

"That's steep…" Lenny sizes this up rubbing at his chin. "I'll take it, the ideas too far fetched I like my odds. Lunch for a week. You're crazy upside down world vs my rational one." We shake hands as the lights go down.

Big grin in place we face off on the theater app, Myles wins by a land slide with Rachel just 5 points behind him. Isolda beats us at the trivial and by beat I mean slaughters us all by getting everything right. Show time at last.

I walk out with a pleased as peaches smirk, Myles is laughing so hard he can't breathe right. Roland and Deacon will never let Lenny live this down.

"Lunch for a week then I guess" Lenny trys to hide the smile but it's not working. "What would my lady like for lunch tomorrow?"

"The little Chinese palace" Maya tosses the idea out.

"No go for wok box" Isolda goes steep, it's a pricy little place.

"She'd be better getting a home made meal, Lenny does a mean chicken stir fry" Deacon offers his arm for Isolda who blushes taking it. Hook line and sinker, she's a gonner for him.

"That'll keep him up late tonight making that" I point out to them.

"Worth it" they all answer back.

"Then I guess its home made stir fry then"

"You're letting him off too easily" Maya shakes her head at me.

"It's just day one, I got 6 more to go" I smile at her.

"Ok, lets get everyone home" Lenny ignores the protesting. "We still got school in the morning and I gotta make stir fry before bed, lets go" he shakes his head. "dads gonna think I've lost it, cooking at midnight"

"We could always do pizza tomorrow and stir fry Saturday" I offer up.

"Naa" he shrugs it off. "it'll be fine, just a little tired tomorrow, what could go wrong?" he grins as I feel my stomach drop out on me for some reason.

I finally get my goodnight kiss at the door without anyone interrupting it. I hope Isolda got hers too.

… … ...

Leo dashes across the rooftops, he's tired tonight. Of all nights to loss some sleep, he chooses tonight. He's a little slower than normal, if we can see it so can our enemies. He swears he's fine, but I can see the worry in the others eyes. Slower is bad for us. We depend too much on our speed and agility to fight and out maneuver to not be worried about him.

A flash of sliver grabs my eyes, I see Leo react but he's too slow…

… … … … … … … … … …

(NYC, the turtles lair)

"What did you do Donatello?" Leo blasts through the med room doors as Donny pulls a syringe out of the IV drip.

Donny startles at the use of his full name, Leo never uses the full name unless he's wicked pissed about something. "I'm ending this. One way or another" Donny leaps Out of the Way from the half hearted attempt to grab him. "Either she'll wake up soon or she'll … " he can't bring himself to finish the thought.

"What did you do bro? I thought that was going to help her" Mikey half turns towards Donny with creased eyebrows and a sour lip look walking through the doors with a new shinny starting on his left eye. Leo wasn't playing around or being nice this time. Raph comes in rubbing at his jaw.

"You said it would help them both" Raph pushes Leo to the left standing with crossed arms while starting down at his brother.

"This is experimental ok. Either it'll help her wake up or fry the last of the brain function. By morning she'll be better or we can put her to rest" Donny won't back down. "I won't have her on life support for ever because you won't say goodbye. If she's coming back, then lets get this over with, if she's brain dead from lack of oxygen and blood loss then let her pass already"

"She was getting better…"

"NO!" Donny pounds a fist on the table. "No she was not getting better, she barely registers as alive on these machines when I hooker her up, her brain activity hasn't changed in months. You, YOU showed improvement as the weeks went on she has not! And I'm not going to let her waste away on this table because you refuse to let her go" he doesn't remember when he started to cry but it happened all the same and there was no taking it back. "You haven't been a brother for months. You haven't been a leader since that night. Someone had to do something about this"

"That seems harsh Dee. Couldn't you just pretend that she was going to be ok soon for a bit longer?" Mikey walked out.

"So much for being one of us. Whatever happened to no turtle left behind?" Raph storms out after Mikey.

"Get out" Leo points to the door.

"Leo…"

"I SAID GET OUT!" Leo cracks around the edges as Donny leaves him alone again. She was getting better, she said something to him! That had to mean she was getting better, right?

(Friday)

I wake up screaming like the hounds of hell are after me. All I see is red. Red blood soaking my sheets, pouring over my face, coating my hands, arms and chest as an intense burning sensation rips through me, I let another scream out. I hear Amanda and Curt running down the halls calling out for me as red bleeds through my walls scrawling a message for me. I said get out. I'm confused as Amanda burst through my door and comes to a crashing halt in front of me. She grabs my face and wipes away the tears as Curt heads for the window baseball bat in hand looking for intruders or some threat. His feet leaves marks on the blood covered floor at first but it all clears up by the time he's across from me. I'm left staring at my room like I have never seen it before. What the shell was that!

"Vivian sweetie what was it? Did you see someone?" Amanda try's grabbing my attention. I feel terror lingering in me, I'm slow to speak and sound scared.

"Just a bad dream. There was blood everywhere…" I look at the wall but it's the same as it has been for the last four years. A pale blue with water lily's dancing across it. No blood dripping down, no scary messages, no anger radiating from around me. No sense of malice or fear. It's just a room once more. I feel the tears fall one by one clinging to Amanda but wishing it was someone else. A certain strong turtle who would make everything better from sheer will power alone.

"Another bad dream?" Curt looks outside but stops to look back at me. "Guess we're going back to the doctor, you've had a bad dream every night this week that anti right" Curt double checks that no one's outside my room before heading back down stairs.

"At least make it for after school!" I yell down to him. I stop crying and hobble out of bed. "I need a shower"

"Ok dear, I can always call you in sick for the day if you like" Amanda is the sweeties thing at times.

"I have a date at lunch time, I would like to try. You know I always feel better after a shower" I slip down the hallway and into the bathroom and watch the show that has greeted me every morning this week. Blood oozing down the walls, falling off the ceiling in great big wet globs that splat onto the tile floor that seems to be seeping up blood as well. If I were to try to touch any of it, it wouldn't be there. Dry and safe cheesy wallpaper would meet my fingers, the floor isn't wet and nothing hits my head. The blood disappears as I walk by it. Still unnerving but doable. After the longest shower the blood disappears from all the walls, nothing squishy between my back to normal five toes. It was weird balancing on two toes at first. My face no longer looks back at me looking green and hairless. Still nothing seems real to me anymore. Not this soft carpet that I'm walking on. Not the feel of the bag on my back. The food doesn't even have any taste anymore. But I smile and say thank you because I love French toast for breakfast and Curt risked burning this house that feels empty down to make it this fast.

The van jostles the whole way to school but I can't feel it when my shoulder connects with the cloth covered metal. Mr. Stanford looks more and more like the shredder every day but it no longer bothers me. I wasn't surprised seeing rocksteady and bee bop hustle away from me like Ricky and Bryon did yesterday. Of course my mind would mark the bullies from school as the trouble makers of my favorite show. Either way their mostly harmless. Raph walking into class ahead of me doesn't shock me anymore when he turns around and I see Roland instead. They both have anger management issues, no surprise there. Lenny walking around with Leo's swords throws me for a loop. A sense of impending doom washes over me. He's tired, I can see it in his sluggish movements, his half steps but this is school nothing bad is going to happen here.

Lenny walks out the door with a smile on his face and I return it. That doesn't even feel right anymore. I still care, I can feel it, but it's like something is pulling me away from everyone here, as if this isn't where I belong anymore.

I try to remind myself school will be finished in another month, everything is wrapping up and coming to an end soon. That's all my brain is trying to tell me, that I'm about to enter a new world, a very scary adult world were my boss could be a bully. Where a co-worker could be the new thorn in my side. Where I don't get a do over if I mess something up. There's no retaking the test of life. I decided to take a year off to go abroad and explore the world. I didn't apply for any university, maybe I am doubting myself and my move. Is it too late to apply? Did I just ruin my future? I smile all day like nothing is wrong, even as this world goes grey and surreal. I hope that by night time it brightens up again.

Deacon was right, Lenny makes one mean stir fry. If nothing else that was tasty and now my favorite meal.

.

"Where are you leading me?" I grip Lenny's arm to resist ripping the blind fold off.

"It's a secret" Lenny answers with a laugh in his voice. His happiness is contagious so I feel a real smile seep into my face this time. I can feel the soft grass underfoot give way to unyielding concrete. "We're almost there" he slips, but it doesn't affect me. "And…" something creeks to my left. "Just…a little… bit… longer" I feel his fingers glide up my face, caressing my cheeks as he goes, slowly wrapping his fingers around the light blue scarf he brought with him to be used as my blind fold. It's a very soft material and I like it a lot. Aggravating slow he pulls the blind fold off and at first I'm greeted by blood covered walls again, they rapidly go away to be replaced by some creepid looking wood planks. "Surprise!" Lenny mimics a cheerleader move. "It's not much to look at, but the view can't be beat" Lenny moves a board off to the side and it steals my breath away. The window hole in the side of the run down building shows off the high and bright white moon, a few stars show up as well to twinkle away.

"Wow" I sit down with his help, just starting at it all. "Beautiful"

"Yep" I turn to see him looking at me, a blush is across my cheeks before I can help it. "Views not bad either" he turns to look out the window hole finally making me laugh at him. He turns around and lights a small candle. Again with the fire hazards? "Perfect weather and everything" he leans in close and I hold my breath. I can feel things again with him so close… or maybe I can feel things normally he's just so intense. He's alive, very much alive in so many ways that maybe the world feels dead compared to him. I let that sink in as the moment passes, and he sits back up. He looks out the window hole and chatters on for a while, it's a nervous energy like he wants to say something but isn't. It's right there on the tip of our tongue's but no one is admitting it. A few more close calls and my mind can't take it anymore just make your move buddy! I grow frustrated and understand Isolda's crass move, he's taking too long and I'm about to explode. I move a little closer pretending to be cold, he just wraps me in tighter to him I watched his eyes dart across my face, land on my lips but move away again and I feel like pounding his chest in. I lower my eyes, push my chin forward, take the kiss I know you want it. I'm offering it up just take it!

Grrr!

A crash sounds to our left and my heart ends up in my throat and I almost choking on it. He's up in a defensive stance, crouched down low, left side back a bit for a powerful kick or punch if he needs it. A faint ouch reaches my ears and Lenny goes supper nova on Myles, yelling at him even as he pulls him up from the rubble Myles seems to have pulled down on his own head.

The nights ruined, we all know it, Lenny shoves Myles in the right direction to get out and pulls a hand down his face grumbling about everything. "Sorry" he ruefully smiles at me.

"Its ok," I pause seeing the others outside the window. "Guess everyone was just checking in on us" his head pops out the window and one look down has Deacon scattering for safety while Roland stands definitely.

"Extra kata's for all of you!" Lenny's threat makes Roland back down as Myles complaints can be heard back up here. Even Deacon's shoulders drop in protest at this. My girls are laughing at the guys until Roland points out that Lenny's in charge of their class too. Isolda looks horrified by this idea, Rachel looks worried and Maya looks ready to die at the idea. "Back home, all of you!"

"You're not the boss of me!" Maya yells up at us, even I know that wasn't a smart move, Roland panics and starts pushing her away but it's too late.

"We will see about that come Monday practice and I need a volunteer" watching Maya visible pale at the idea in the dark is a nifty trick. "I should be getting you back home anyway" Lenny helps me navigate my way out of the abounded building before taking me home for the night, leaving me with a simple sweet kiss on my cheek and wanting a lot more. Fuckers are gonna get a six am wake up call for that!

… … … … … … … … … …

(NYC, the turtles lair)

"Remember that night?" Leo brushes his thumb across her cheek, wishing he had said something, if he had just said what he was feeling sooner could all of this been avoided? Or would it have only made it worse?

"Leo" Raph knocks on the door. "Suppers ready, can I get you something to eat?" he knows better than ask him to come out. More so with what has happened, Leo is unlikely to leave her side until one of the two things happens.

"No thanks Raph, I'm not hungry right now "

"You sure? It's her favorite" it was the only way to guarantee that Leo would eat ever few days, he wasn't too fond of it anymore. Maybe Donny had a point when would this madness end otherwise? Either when Venus woke up and Leo could rest better, or when she died and Leo would need their help to get over it.

"… Maybe just a small plate, maybe it'll help her feel better"

Leo wouldn't turn around to face him so Raph just left to get it for him. He also got a full plate knowing only half of it would be eaten "Maybe she'll wake up and want some too" Leo nodded at this still sitting by the bed gently rubbing small soothing circles across her knuckles. Though who it was soothing for was up for debate. Raph walked away unable to bear listening to the one sided conversation Leo was starting up again. He should have told her that when she was awake to hear it.

Mikey came by an hour later to pick up the plate, ecstatic to see most of the food gone and Leo sleeping for a change. So he gently placed a blanket over Leo's shoulders and stuffed a small pillow under his head. That should keep him comfortable for a bit. Poor dude needed the sleep but mostly he needed the food. Mikey hoped Venus would wake up so she could yell at Leo for letting his health go like this.

(Saturday)

I wake up without screaming this time and blink at my alarm clock going off… 6 am what the shell… oh right. I'm not even awake, I'm just auto dialing Rachel first. I get some sounds of life on the other side before screaming good morning sun shine into her ears. I promptly hang up before she can do anything beside fall out of bed, at least I think that's what happen based on the sudden high pitched squeal and crash. Next is Isolda. She sounds like a zombie this earlier in the day. It's mostly a grunt of an answer. So I yell wordless at her, I get a surprising shriek back but hang up before she can yell at me. Next is the beast. I'm taking my own life into my hands revenge calling her but I hit the button before I chicken out. I holler morning sweetie after she picks up but don't hang up fast enough to not hear the first part of the threat. Then I shut my phone off and roll back over to sleep a little longer.

"Do I wanna know?" Amanda rubs at her eyes from my door way.

"They had it coming, wrecking last night" I answer cuddling deeper into my blankets.

"Right I won't let them in till afternoon then" She stumbles back to bed.

That was too much fun.

.

"VIVIAN!" Maya yells at me, I run. No I flee, at least one hound of hell is after me right now. I'm running for my life in a mall after agreeing to meet them here. After what I pulled this morning, I know my name and picture now sits in the Oxford dictionary beside the worlds "Stupid" and 'Doomed"

"This way" Lenny pulls me into a store that I would never go into. He shuffles us behind a display and I hear the angry stomp of Maya race past us.

"Dead woman walking" Roland looks at me over a ridiculous pair of shades.

"Worth it" I snap a pic before he can say anything and next thing I know Lenny's moving us out the door as Roland goes postal on me as well.

"Send it to Myles quick!" Lenny keeps me from running into anything as I type as fast as I can.

"Working on it, honey!" I hit the send button as Roland barges out the door on his cell, crap! He called Maya to let her know where I am.

"This way" Lenny steers me around a planter and towards the stairs.

"No!" I point down to see Isolda waiting for us. "Crap I started a man hunt!"

"Psst" Deacon waves us into another store.

"Bad idea, no exit!" Lenny realizes to late that we're trapped as Maya and Roland saunter into the opening. Deacons phone goes off and he looks down.

"Damn, a minute later and I would have told you it was a trap" Deacon looks up to see Roland pulling his phone out of his back pocket. "Less than a% 5 chance is about to expire" he nods and we take it. Slipping past a fuming Roland while Maya hollers at whatever she's looking at.

We make it to the middle of the mall, but we're surrounded and we know it.

"Think fast" I urge him.

"Working on it dear" his head snaps around before dragging me in one direction only to pull up short and back us up again. "Odds are not good this many on just us two"

"Then we shall go out in a blaze of glory" I link my arm with his nodding to the nearest exit.

"Will never make it" he spots Roland closing in on us.

"Now or never!" I take off and forced him to come along for the ride. Roland looks pleased as peach and try's cutting us off. I scream as I feel arms wrap around my waist.

"Got her!" Roland declares as Maya advances on us.

"Good…" Maya can't even keep a straight face. We all break down laughing at ourselves. She ruffles my hair, but that's it.

"Smooth" Myles jumps into a chair beside us. "Now to forward this to everyone on my contact list…" Roland literally growls at him. "Oh too late… JK! JK!" Myles reaches for the phone Roland snatched out of his hands.

"You better be" Roland deletes the picture before handing the phone back. "Hand em over" he waves a big hand in front of my face and I hand my phone over. No need to tell him I sent one off to Amanda as well, she'll send it back to me as I need it. I'll tell Lenny about it later.

I never thought the mall would be fun, but here I am enjoying myself. Eating ice-cream and a few shopping bags at my feet. The fireplace to my left and Lenny to my right. The world feels right again. The nagging feeling lingering in the back my mind with its plaguing thoughts of wrongness can't be felt right now. Just a lightness that's been missing all week. I relish in the light as I feel it won't last much longer. Soon the darkness will be back, with a vengeance to claim me once more. But till then I smile and laugh with my friends. Smear my shinny lip loss across a distracted Deacons cheeks to see Isolda bit her tongue too hard to avoid laughing at his face and making herself bleed. No one points out that Deacon still has some sparkly gloss on the side of his face while he tents to Isolda. Rachel gets Myles to sit still for a whole hour, it leaves the guys dumbfounded. Something about it being a miracle. Maya keeps her hands to herself and Roland is relaxed even as other guys check her out. Secure in what they have made already. It's a good day to be alive.

At 4 an alarm goes off, time for us girls go get ready for the wrestling matches happening tonight. The cheerleading squad will be splitting up to cover multiple matches happening at once. This should be interesting.

Of course Roland wins all his matches, a perfect score for the day, he credits his lady luck Maya for his intensity of the night. We hit up the pizza place just down the street and chat for two more hours while chipping away at too many pizzas and far too much pop to be healthy.

… … … … … … … … … …

(NYC, the turtles lair)

Donny approached the med room with extreme caution. He heard that Leo was asleep, so he hoped to grab something when it was relatively safe to do so. Raph shook his head no at Donny but he really needed that part. So he tipped toe past the out cold Leo, grabbed his part, adjusted the blanket and walked back out to face his enraged sensei. If he's lucky, it'll be locked away from his gadgets for 24 hours and all the house hold chores for the rest of his life… from the frown on his sensei's face his turtle luck just ran out.

"Oh dude, Donny's gonna get an ear full" Mikey whapped at Raph's arm to get his attention.

"He's gonna get a lot more than just an ear full" Raph nods at Donny knowing he'd be next. "But knowing that by morning this shell fest will be over might be worth it"

"That cold dude, didn't you use to like her?"

"I still care numb nuts. But Leo wasn't letting her go, she wasn't getting better, and this family was falling apart. You're right, it's damn cold but holding onto a breathing body because yaa don't wanna let go is colder. Her soul can't pass on this way with the anchor still breathing, she deserves that peaceful rest if she's not needed here anymore"

"From the look on Leo's face I'd say she's still needed here"

"As much as I want her to get better, I want Leo back more. Think of it this way mik's, if she's not here she's with her mentor that passed three years. She'll be waiting for us, shell she'll be there to greet sensei when it's his time too" Raph hated the idea but something had to give, he patted Mikey on the shoulder as his face dropped with the idea. "Sooner or later everyone dies Mikey, whether we're ready for it or not"

(Sunday)

I feel so weird. I'm dizzy and debate with myself if I should stay home or not. Surly the squad will be ok without me for the day. The wrestling team just has four matches left, then (lets be real here) someone *cough, Roland, cough* will battle for a bit to take first place and win another trophy for the school. Do I really need to be there for that? Do I need to watch Isolda fumble with things while Deacon of all guys plays it smoothly. Rachel will keep Myles from bouncing around too much and Maya will practically drool on herself watching Roland too closely, probably mess up a step again. Lenny will be there, I debate with myself, I have like four hours to get better. I shot off a text to Rachel to let her know I'm not feeling the best at the moment. She doesn't response and I figure she's sleeping in again. That's a good idea, I bet some extra sleep will help. I chew some toast before putting some pain killers and cough syrup in me just to be safe, my throat feels like a desert with a long tub shoved down it. I can't shake the feeling that something bad is happening so I shoot a text off to Maya and Lenny as well.

-Going for a nap, hopefully will feel better by tonight –

No response from them either, but again it's 7 on a Sunday morning I bet they're all still sleeping. I just get the blankets warmed up and am about to fall asleep when my phone buzzes at me.

-Hope you feel better soon dear, can't wait to see you tonight.- Lenny gets back to me first, making me smile.

-Will do my best, something happening after the matches?-

-It's a secret- I'm gitty again, butterflies are back and I pull my phone under the covers with me

-A better kept one then the last one I hope?-

-Oh yaa, no one knows about this one, not even Roland, get some rest, you'll need some extra energy for after. XOXO – Oh I got hugs and kisses. Now my interest is peeked. Not even Roland knows about this?

-sounds exciting :D XOXO – I wait for a few but don't get anything back, guess I should try for that sleep now.

Phone back on the night stand my eyes drift close

… … …

"Did we get him?" Mikey looks around, he can't find the shredders body and that never bolds well for them. A missing body can be mended and brought back to cause more trouble

"God I hope so" April does a sweep with her eyes across the roof top, she holds Leo up as best as she can, Mikey still has to help Renet as well, Raph's arms are full and Casey wobbles on his feet. She try's to remind herself that they have been in sticker situation before. All things considered they seem to be faring well, no one's dying at least.

Donny's doing a little field work on himself, he got cut somewhere along the line, he doesn't want to lead anyone back to the lair by dripping blood everywhere. He reefs on his eye mask being used as a temporary splint and bandage for his leg that should hold for a while. His leg started to feel the loss of blood pressure right away… maybe he tied that too tight? He spots the flash, but it doesn't register fast enough. He watches Mikey freeze turning around, he could drop Renet but he won't get to his chucks fast enough. He sees Raph throw a sai but it won't stop the attack. He takes note of Casey and April's fear cloud their judgment. No one's close enough. How did Shredder survive the fall? How is he still in motion? How could he get the drop on them like that? He's moving forwards, they all are racing time and light to get there on time. Leo can't stand on his own, never mind fight he's too tired. He was too damn tired when the left the lair tonight. He watches Venus appear like a gift from the gods just in the nick of time, he sees her sword arm come up but it's a useless gesture, she pushed herself to be there to take the hit, favouring speed over self defense. He sees the resolution burn in her eyes, she knows what's about to happen, they all do. Shredder is committed to the move, even he can't change his momentum, he may be about to a kill a turtle but not the one he really wants, his rage is all consuming, bursting forth from the twisted mask in a wordless rush. Donny watches Leo see it all in a slow blink of an eye. Donny feels his blood stop in his veins, Leo's scared. Leo's never scared.

She doesn't even cry out, she glares at the Shredder. Mocking him, denying him the kill he wants. The blade cleaves throw shell, the Sai hits it target a Nano second to late. Blood flows, a plea for life rings out. Two bodies fall but only one is cared for. Only one gets scooped up.

"Venus?" Leo holds her up off the dirty rooftop. Somehow finding strength to hold her up when he was unable to help himself a moment ago.

"We gotta get her back to the lair" April pulls on his arm. "Donny can fix it but we gotta go now"

Donny doesn't know if he can fix that, a broken shell piece crunches under his foot as his Bo swings up high over his head. His rage at this man finally boiling over brings it crashing back down. A nun chuck not to far behind him connects on a skull. The crack is defining. Liquid and brains spill out, but before either can take a second swing Raph is pulling them both along.

"He's dead lets go" Raph picks them both up for a few steps before placing them back down. He handed Mona Lisa over to Casey, April has Renet. Mikey's damn near foaming at the mouth and Donny slipped over an edge none of them knew he had. They might not remember splattering the shredders brains across this roof coming morning but he didn't want the mental image of his two baby brothers losing control like that haunting him for the rest of his life. He never wanted to see them like that ever again. They maybe soft compared to him, but they sure as shell were uncharacteristically cold about that last act. His only soleus in all this is knowing it was his Sai that killed the shredder, they need not deal with the darkness that comes with taking a life. Not yet, not today. He hoped they blacked out and he can clean the evidence up before they come too, or hide it until he can get to it later. Leo's just following them, trying to get Venus to talk to him. April and Casey have their hands full, terror in their eyes. Mikey and Donny where still lashing out at their target. "make sure everyone gets home" Leo always said that, since the others didn't regularly deal with this much rage coursing through them he figured it was up to him. Half pulling Donny and Mikey along, Leo fell into line trusting in Raph. Casey seems to be helping April along and his Lisa was starting to wake up. Renet wouldn't be out for much longer. While he detested their shinny happy self's he wasn't going to let them see this grey world either. "Ok everyone into the van" Raph tossed Mikey and Donny in, they were starting to come around so he took their weapons. Leo stumble in next and doc mood took over in Donny, he called on Mikey's aid to help with the blood flow issues, Casey and April snuggled in tight with Mona moaning about pain while Renet grabbed for her head. He jumps into the drivers seat and guns it. They lost valuable time up there, traffic laws where just gonna be ignored right now to make up for it.

It took all night and day, but Donny stopped the bleeding, he got Venus all hooked up, Mona Lisa and Renet were looked after by Splinter, April cared to Casey and herself. In the early morning light he cleaned up weapons and put them away just as their owners normally would. He makes breakfast and handed it out. Not in the least bit offended by the lack of interest in it, just happy that each ate a little. In a rare instant his dad beamed with pride at him and he tried to pretend it didn't mean that much. Fearless was out, Donny was preoccupied and Mikey could sleep for days after a battle like that. Renet was ordered home, the time lord would see to her well being. Mona was helpless in bed, out for the count with six stable fractures and one compounded fracture. Leather head is helping where he can, even Spike and his gang promise to drop by with supplies as we need them. Leo won't talk to anyone right now.

He knew it was going to be a long recovery, it always is when Leo's out of it. He would do his part to keep the family going, he always did and normally without complaint. Hey, it's just part of his job, one of the perks of being part of family. So as instructed by Donny he took a seat in this chair and started talking to Venus as she slept through the worst of her injuries.

"Donny says you can hear me." He resisted the urge to tape her on the forehead. "Listen up Venus you need to wake up ok, I can't keep them going forever. Take your time, I get it you're in pain, but we need you back hear alright" He scratches at his head, face twisted up as thoughts raced behind his eyes. "Donny says I should tell you a story to remind you about us, but I think I know something better, about a time before you joined us. It may sound far fetched, but it's the truth. Leo's not perfect. I know it sounds crazy, but he almost got tagged on us one day, taking on more than he should, not that he had much of a say in this. He ended up in a coma, just like you, but if his dumb ass can make it out of that, I bet you can too"

... … …

Vivian jolts awake with tears in her eyes, Raph was always being blamed for most of the tension in the family. His temper and recklessness a source of contentment amongst them. But Leo didn't help any if anything he made it worse by always pushing Raph's buttons. Many would blame Mikey of that, but he made them smile more often than not. And Raph had to fight his smiles while chasing Mikey around the lair, his threats thinly veiled and half hearted at best. Unless Mike caught him in a truly awful mood. Donny was the residential peace maker but he could be as cold as the machines he clung too, often forgetting to be apart of the family he was working so hard to protect in his own way. Leo took charge, he was the first to raise his sword to defend them, Donny built everything they could need or want to keep them safer and connected, Mikey made sure they remembered what they were fighting for. Raph used himself as a shield, a personal mobile fleshy shield. They would all die for each other, sure they might go down yelling at one another but that wouldn't change a thing. She missed that.

Vivian or is it Venus? Who was she? What was she? Where did she belong? She felt her world begin to crash around her, felt it shift on its access. Surely tides would come to wash her away, the Earth would open up wide and swallow her whole. The sun would burn out, something would explode.

This was wrong, this was fake. She could see it around the edges now. The way everything seemed to be just as she wanted or thought it should be for a normal teenage girl. It was too perfect. Her life had been playing out in front of her like a script had been fallowed. Every T crossed, every I dotted. Players dashing about to make the production just right in every way. She finally turned her computer on, first time in over a week. There was a message waiting for her, from battlewisdom, but signed with just an L at the end. She figured that L was for Leo and not Lenny. Was Lenny her minds version of Leo as human? There was so many questions she needed answers.

The mind is like a computer…

Odd, she stopped from replying, instead she shut the screen down and found the Internet browser. She looked up her favorite episodes from her favorite show. She studied them closer. Skipping past her usual notes she took a closer look at it. These all looked familiar, and the way she could tell what was going to happen before it happened. The guys getting away when it defied all logically reasoning. It made sense really, this shout, the way they angled this view, it wasn't for dramatic flair. No if one looked at it right, this wasn't some random camera placement, this was from someones pov that was there. The guys have been getting help from someone off camera, the extra weapons that always showed up, that one thing they need to solve the problem just landing in their laps like that? Oh no, they were getting help. This Email telling Venus to wake up sent to her wasn't a bad joke, she was in the wrong place, now she just needed to figure out how to get back to where she belonged. For fun she sent the question out to the very active forums under the ruse of needing to brain storm a new story idea. A love interest caught up in coma realizes it, what are the different ways she could try to wake herself up to the with the one she loved? There's plenty of response within the hour. I think Donny would call this hacking the system on a whole new level. Little snip its of half heard conversation come to mind, she thought she dreams it, but maybe she was just remembering. Ok, idea number one: crash her car into a building to jolt herself out of the dream world… yaa gonna pass on that, it didn't work in freaky Friday and almost dying while in a coma sounded like a terrible thing to do. Next. Idea number two: get on a train going back to her hometown, she can wake up in the real world when her dream self falls sleep on the train. Not a bad idea, except that I live in NYC and am currently in NYC… unless I am supposed to go to China then come back here. That would bring everything full circle again. I'll put a note down on the idea. Last ditched effort if I can't get anything else to work because airfare is pricy and Amanda would think I'm crazy if it didn't work. Next…. Two hours later I'm pulling my hand down my face. I tried going to sleep and telling myself to just wake up back in my real life that failed. I tried writing a very short one shot with me as the character waking up, failed again. I tried willing myself to wake up. Fail. I tried imaging a doorway to reality opening up. Obviously still here. I blink looking at my alarm clock. It's almost time to go watch Roland cream noobs again.

Hmmmm….

Well I know him as Roland but he is clearly the human version of Raph, so maybe if I can figure out who is really who my mind will wake up? It's worth a shot. And if anyone asks I'll just say I'm working on a new story idea.

For the first time all week there's no blood dripping down the bathroom walls or squishing between my toes as I walk into a room for the first time. It's a huge relief. So I shower in peace and don't protest my green skinned face in the mirror. I eat food that doesn't taste like anything and get dressed.

So if Roland is Raph, that means Deacon is Donny, Myles is clearly Mikey. That makes Lenny Leo and where you find Leo practicing you find his sensei. So Mr. Sheppard is Master splinter, oh what was his wife's name again? Oh right that makes Mrs. Sheppard Tang Shen.

…. I look around me, guess just figuring out the good guys was too easy. There's more here, so… bad guys next I guess?

Hmmmm…. Well Mr. Stanford is the shredder for sure. Rocksteady and Bebop is clearly my two tormentors Ricky and Bryon. Both pairs of men are equally stupid and incapable of doing anything right.

I look around but nothings changing. Who am I missing? I hop online. Who else have I faced off? I get a list for the next mutation characters and concluded that my parents dying here four years ago in a crash must represent Venus losing her mentor in the show… I mean me losing my mentor before traveling to NYC to save Master splinter. I guess that means all the mean police I had to deal with were the dragons from the sacred mirror, rotten police force, gang of interdimensional supper beings, tomato tamato? … Well that makes the lawyer's the vampires obviously, both are blood sucking fiends.

I'm running out of ideas and still nothing is happening so I'm still missing something. I shot off a text message then hit up the forums.

I am a tempting to compile a complete list of every character in the tmnt versus. Lend me your aid fellow fans! I open a blank document as answers come pouring in. They think this is a brilliant idea and only a fan such as myself would be able to handle. I copy and paste as much as I can before dashing down the stairs to get a ride over to the school. I know school on a Sunday, but cheerleading duty calls and I need a break from my screen, besides watching Roland… oops I mean Raph beat up people is funny.

"That's a crazy idea" Myles races to my side. "Really think you can gather all that Intel into one spot?"

"She'll need a large document file folder, it'll take some time as well" Deacon walks up next, he's flipping through pages on a tablet, I don't make any comments about the turtles walking beside me. If it's all in my head, then nobody will say anything. I spot squishy looking brains in some mechanical bodies.

"Krang, and the species also know as Krang or the utroms" Lenny answers my unasked questions. "They were huge in another tv series, you should split this all up into sub groups based on individual time lines, then make an over all list after you have gathered everything bringing it all into one comprehensive detailed register of sorts" he too is flipping through web pages on his phone. "I got three pages marked already for all three tv series"

"I found a list of comic books" Roland waves at someone as he walks with us for a moment. "There's a lot out there, were you thinking any and all alternative world's, including fan fiction too or just the official stuff?"

"All of it, every possible character and O/C out there. It's gonna be massive amounts of work but I think it will be worth it to try to get the what's what and who's who all sorted out. Story lines, plot twist, if it has tmnt attached to it then I want it" my head is spinning trying to think of how long this may take. That's a lot of history to wad through. It would be faster to travel to China and back again, possibly cheaper too.

"My parents sent off an email to the studio, maybe they can help, yeah for contacts!" Isolda grins at Deacon and I falter for a step. I can't recall Donny ever having a love interest in anything official. If I wake up and this is just a dream what does that mean for all the budding love growing in all my friends eyes? It's not far if Leo and I are the only ones in real life to find this kind of happiness. Then again I may never wake up, this could be my reality, if it's not, who knows what could have changed while I was out of it. Who knows what could change after I get back. "What brought this all on, anyway?"

"I got a story idea, a real brain twister of an idea and just need as much info on tmnt as I can get my hands on to make it work" I answer them.

"I bet it's going to be awesome" Rachel pops up beside me. "But for now, I need you over there" she twists my upper body in the right direction and off I go.

Watching Raph smear the new guy into the mat was humorous. Watching Raph cream his opponents is always a high light to any day. Something is so satisfying about watching the bad guys hit the ground really hard. I cheer loudly with Maya beside me, somewhat savagely but it spurs the guys on, even the bad ones to fight harder. Macho crap, sure, but it gets the crowds going too.

Final match, Raph (that's a shocker… not) vs. Some big white guy named Homer… is he even a student? He's like 7 feet and wider then I am tall, and I thought Raph was a walking steroids commercial! I watch some apprehensions cross his face, this guy is like twice his size, he's clearly out matched and out muscled. Homer's a mountain in motion, but he's not slow like I first thought he would be! The bell goes off and he jumps at Raph causing the crowd to scream with some fear. It's intense, every move Raph try's this guy out right blocks, I can see the gears in motion he's this close to a perfect run this tournament, if he can win this it's a shot out for him and great way for him to end his high school wrestling career. Lenny's watching closely, he clearly wants to help but can't. Deacon has an answer but keeps his mouth closed. I spot it, mountain in motion has a weak left knee, he's favoring it heavily right now. Breathing in ragged in that ring, there almost out of time and a point win will go in Homer's direction so Raph has to tag him to get the necessary points, it'll be close. If Raph can land a blow on that knee and pin him on that side it might be too weak for Homer to dead lift him up again. Raph sees Deacon, Lenny and me staring at the same knee. I hope it's enough. A hail marry move but he goes for it with his final timer warning. He huffs out and launches himself for the wrong knee, Homer grins but at the last second he pivots and tackles the right knee cap, Homer goes over and a dust cloud goes up with the impact. It settles on Raph reefing on the right knee and using his whole body to semi keep Homer pinned. One count, Homer bucks up but his left knee won't hold him up. Two count he panics and shoves at Raph who curls in to protect his head from the slaps. Three count, bells signal the end and Raph jumps up with a victory war cry. I wait to see if he pounds his own chest like a caveman. No dice, it would have been funny thou. The crowd goes wild, Maya screams from her spot before ditching it to jump on Raph, she plants a kiss right there. Guess someone likes extreme displays of physical prowess.

"So" I approached Deacon after the games. "If my main character in my new story ends up in a coma, realize she's in a coma, how would she go about waking herself up?" I know, this is just my minds version of Donny and I shouldn't expect some brilliant answer that will magically work because this isn't the real deal and there forth he can only be as smart as me but it was worth a try... right?

"Sounds complicated. I suppose she could jolt herself awake"

I already heard this idea "Freaky Friday"

He stops thinking to look at me. "Oh yaa... hmmm. Ok how about traveling to her hometown?"

"It doesn't work" this is getting me no where.

"Solve a problem to wake up?"

"That has potential, what kind of problem?" I feel like pulling out my notebook.

"Finding key players real names and calling them by it?" I nod to in courage more ideas. "Maybe she needs to 'die' in her coma world to wake up in the real world?" I really dislike that idea. "Does she even want to wake up? Maybe her dream world is better than her real one, and she's content to stay there, maybe she can't wake up"

My hands fly up into my hair "I could be stuck here forever!"

"That could be an excellent line for her when she realizes it" Deacon is looking at me oddly. "Maybe she just needs to be patient and wait for herself to wake up?"

"Wait!" I feel an amazing idea coming on. "Maybe her world is too good to be true, so she doesn't want to leave it even though she knows it's not real..." I snap my fingers once before he takes over to finish up my thoughts.

"So until she fully believes AND wants it she can't leave" I'd call him a mind reader but he's apart of my imagination so I don't think that counts. "Something will have to happen to make her want to leave it, something drastic" I suddenly get a bad a feeling about this.

"What would be drastic enough to make someone want to leave a perfect world behind?" I don't want this answer but I need it at the same time.

"Something physical, mental and probably emotional will need to happen to send her over an edge, a desire to start over again. So something mind boggling and nearly catastrophic in nature"

Ok I've endure mental crap at this school for years now, I've been put through the physical pain of being used as a punching bag, that leaves the emotional upheaval. My eyes dart across to Lenny. No it's Leo. I believe in this being just a dream, I need him to shock me with something to upset me. I can't imagine being any happier then I am with him, so it needs to be him to hurt me. "Three strikes and you're out kinda thing. I can't write what I've never experienced" Donny looks at me watching Leo. "So I need Lenny to do something that would cause intense emotional pain, knowing it's not real will help me not blow it up but good enough for me to grasp the kind of pain that I'll be writing about. Think you can set something up with him so I don't know when it's going to hit me?" I know it's coming but to see it before it happens could wreak it.

"You writers do the strangest things for your craft" he's shaking his head at me as he walks back to Leo. "I'll set it up to happen later on encase you temporarily loss it ok" I watched a short exchange between them before they turn to look at me, a nod from Leo lets me know he's game for it. Then again they don't really have a choose in the matter do they.

We hit up the bugger joint, chill for a few hours and then go our separate ways for the night, I half throw myself on dream Leo, this could be the last time I see him, who knows what it'll be like back in the real world, he could have moved on by now. Fear course through me, I rub at my head, dig my nails into the palm of my hands. Adjust my clothes again. Sit down only to stand up and pace the room. My phone buzzes at me, an unknown number is texting me. I don't have the time or the energy to deal with jealous fake girls complaining about my fake boyfriend, I reach for it about to go postal on one more chic telling me how I don't deserve him, I already know this, it's why I don't want to leave, I may not have a shot with the real deal. I stab at the screen and rake my hand across, a picture is waiting for me. I click it to see what is going on only to gasp out and drop my phone. I blink rapidly trying to clear the image away but it won't leave me. I thought they would 'break up' with me... but... no. Instead they send me a picture of what looks like Leo kissing my best friend.

It's not real. I know none of this is real but I can't breathe. I shake all over, my knees give out and I sink to the floor. Great big nerve wracking sobs escape me, small and pathetic at first then they turn big and loud and I'm left clutching my sheets between my fingers. I let a scream out but not because of the picture, but because my widow shatters above my head. The wallpaper peels back to display rotting body parts, blood spills over onto me as the roof starts to collapse. I look out to see nothing happening on the street. It's just here in my room. I get tossed around and slammed into my bed and dresser before the computer screen falls on my head. Everything goes black as I fall face first into a pool of my own blood.

… … … … … … … … … …

(NYC, The turtles lair)

In the middle of the night, a hand twitches. The one holding on reflexively grips tighter, begging with mind, body and soul as he subconsciously pulls her back and closer to him.

Past the witching hour two pairs of eye lids flutter as they try to wake up, sensing that the other one needs them.

In the middle of the night, the world is darkest just before dawn. Light blue eyes lock onto the storm grey ones looking back. He dares to hope as she dares to believe that this is wear she truly belongs.

The end

So just encase you got lost

I will admit that my light brain twister turned out to be a bit crazy ... and somewhat morbid at the end there ...

:/

Venus is Vivian . Vivian is Venus.

Venus was morality wounded and fell into a coma.

So this means Venus is dreaming about what her life would be like as a human girl named Vivian. Vivian is remembering her real life as Venus .

Venus took a sword to the chest and fell into a coma protecting Leo (Lenny)

Vivian took a hit to her head (her brain starting it's reboot process) and started seeing her life for what it was. A dream.

If you figured it out on your own fantastic!

If not that's ok. My thought process confuses me too

If you stuck with me and the story till the end, then whoraa! My apologies for my terrible grammar. I will keep looking for a beta tester to help improve this.


End file.
